Hungarian Parliament approves Sweden’s proposal to join NATO

Budapest: The Hungarian Parliament has approved Sweden’s proposal to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Of the 199 members of Parliament, 194 took part in the voting on Monday. Of these, 188 votes were cast in favor and six against. Hungary’s parliament voted on the bill on Monday, the first day of the spring session, Xinhua news agency reported. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, “Swedish-Hungarian military cooperation and Sweden’s accession to NATO will strengthen Hungary’s security.” Alod Novak of the opposition party Our Homeland was one of six MPs who voted against it. “Let’s veto Sweden joining NATO,” he said before the vote.
With its support on Monday, Hungary became the last of the 31 NATO member states to approve Sweden’s proposal to join the military alliance. Now Sweden will officially become the 32nd member of the alliance at the next NATO summit to be held in Washington DC in July. The bill still needs the signature of Hungary’s newly elected President Tamás Suliok to become law. The Hungarian Parliament’s approval was welcomed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Describing it as “a historic day”, Kristersson wrote on social media platform X that Sweden is ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security. It is noteworthy that after the Ukrainian crisis escalated in February 2022, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO. Their joining required the approval of all NATO members. The Hungarian Parliament approved Finland’s proposal to join NATO in March last year.