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Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán
Photo: Szilard Koszticsak / EPA
Against the background of Sweden's desire to join NATO, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to meet his counterpart Ulf Kristersson.
"Today I sent Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson an invitation letter to visit Hungary to negotiate Sweden's accession to NATO," Orbán wrote on the online platform X, formerly Twitter.
Orbán's announcement comes on the day on which a vote on the ratification of the Scandinavian country's NATO membership is on the agenda in the Turkish parliament.
Hungary and Turkey are the only allies that have not yet agreed to join.
In Hungary's parliament, the vote on this is now just a formality after the responsible committees have already voted for it.
Budapest repeatedly postponed the final vote at Orbán's instigation out of anger at criticism from Sweden about the state of the rule of law in Hungary.
At the same time, Orbán had always emphasized that his country did not want to be the last to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO.
Orbán's presentation is that there is no agreement between Hungary and Turkey on the issue.
Turkey delayed ratification on the grounds, among other things, that Sweden was showing a lack of commitment against "terrorist organizations" such as the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Most recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conditioned his approval on the USA supplying modern F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Erdoğan and his government partners hold a majority in parliament.
There has been a tug of war over Sweden's accession to NATO for more than a year and a half.
In view of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022.
Finland was admitted to the alliance in April 2023.
czl/dpa