NATO Membership for Sweden and Finland Might be Jeopardized by Hungary and Turkey
(Photo : ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (L) hold a press conference after their meeting in Ankara, on April 19, 2022.

At stake is the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland, which Hungary and Turkey will hinder to slow down their accession to the western military bloc.

Officials in these two Baltic states might not find it easy to progress due to issues with Ankara and Budapest; not keen on the military goals of the US and EU in particular.

Sweden, Finland Bids for NATO Membership

Within only three months, 24 countries have already transferred the updated documentation to Washington, and 28 of the 30 coalition partners have authorized the structural reforms in their legislative bodies that would permit Finland and Sweden to become full fledge partners, reported Euronews.

Hungary and Turkey will not make it easy for them, despite the 28-nation support.

The confirmation process will move forward based on the Hungarian foreign minister, who already assured the Finns that they had no counterarguments to Helsinki or Stockholm joining the EU in September.

A few weeks before, after August, Hungary's Minister for Regional Development, and former EU Commissioner, Tibor Navracsics, visited Helsinki and informed Finnish MPs that his nation would indeed vote to approve their application to join with no delay, as posted on Twitter.

The Finnish government's official website released a statement regarding the support of the Hungarian parliament.

Opposition was incensed by Viktor Orbán's Fidesz politicians' course of action this week to thwart the initiation of a motion in the legislature that could have sped up a vote on Sweden and Finland with their NATO membership.

Bertalan Tóth, the Hungarian MP who tried to present the motion, said it was an unfathomable and unwarranted judgment call.

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"They are engaged in the Alliance's Collaborative effort for Peace programs from 1994, and have played an active part in past and current peacekeeping activities," he added.

Conceivably, the Hungarian parliament would therefore keep discussing the accession process. Nevertheless, no final date has been established, so the issue is on hold.

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Officials in Helsinki and Stockholm are getting a bit aggravated about what is happening to the process. For them, with all the progress made to become part of the military bloc, to be stopped by Ankara and Budapest is unbearable.

These two would be members who want to pressure the Hungarian prime minister, Victor Orban, to stop what he's doing. Minna Ålander commented that Helsinki could do nothing.

She explained that Fidesz intended to relate the recent EU commission suggestion to freeze finances for Hungary due to worries about the rule of law with these Baltic nations joining the military bloc.

Ålander commented that its case sounds like Orban is only participating in this same Turkish bandwagon whenever it comes to Stockholm and Helsinki membership. As long as Erdogan keeps declaring that he'll continue to block their entry, as he did a couple of days ago, Hungary is reluctant to move either.

The Turks have already signaled that they endorsed the bids in a telephone conversation between President Erdogan and President Niinistö somewhere at the beginning of April; the Finns obtained guarantees that there would not be any concerns.

Seeking NATO membership, Sweden and Finland will be against Hungary and Turkey in accession to the military bloc.

Related Article: Erdogan Threatens NATO Expansion as It Plans To Freeze Sweden, Finland Bids To Join