Hungary vote clears path for Sweden’s Nato membership

Mr Orban is a nationalist politician with close ties to Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin.

He has often blocked EU efforts to send military aid to Ukraine.

Sweden is one of the EU coun­tries which have accused Hungary of backsliding on the EU’s demo­cratic principles.

In turn, Mr Orban’s spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, accused officials in Sweden of sitting on a “crumbling throne of moral superiority”.

Last week, however, Mr Orban hosted his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, and announced his support for Sweden’s member­ship.

Monday’s vote was almost unan­imous – 188 to 6.

In his speech, Mr Orban sharply criticised unnamed Nato allies for exerting pressure on his govern­ment to end the 21-month delay.

“Hungary is a sovereign country and does not tolerate being dictat­ed to by others, on the content or timing of decisions,” he said.

The parliament’s approval must now be signed by the president – after which a formal invitation is sent to Sweden to join the 31-member-strong group.

The process usually lasts a few days.

Turkey had been the other Nato country to withhold approval of Sweden’s application in a row over what it called Sweden’s support to Kurdish separatists. It eventually lifted its veto in January.

Every member has a veto over the expansion of the defensive alliance.

Sweden and its eastern neigh­bour, Finland, both long consid­ered militarily neutral, announced their intention to join Nato in May 2022. —BBC

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