Carmen Valero Berlin

Berlin

Updated Monday, February 26, 2024-17:10

The Hungarian Parliament has ratified

Sweden's entry into NATO

after a two-year tug-of-war, a delay that Prime Minister

Viktor Orban

and deputies from his party, Fidesz, justified with criticism, in their opinion unfair, of the Swedish Government in the country's undemocratic drift.

"Sweden's entry into NATO strengthens Hungary's security, so

I ask you to support the proposal

," Orban said when opening the session and with the certainty that his request would go ahead, since Fidesz has a majority. of two thirds.

Hungary has been the

last

NATO member to

accept Sweden's entry

into the Alliance, after

Turkey

, which also had strong reluctance for months, did so at the end of January.

Almost two years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden, fearing a threat from Russia, applied to join NATO.

Finland 's accession

was quickly approved

by all 30 Member States and ratified by the Hungarian Parliament, but in the case of Sweden, Turkey and Hungary rejected ratification for various reasons.

The

Turks

conditioned ratification on the

expulsion of Kurdish nationalists

whom they described as terrorists.

Hungary's reasons were changing.

But whether Orban would end up giving in to the enormous pressure exerted by the allies was a matter of time.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gave it the finishing touch.

In his conversations with Orban, he

promised to ratify Sweden's accession

in the spring parliamentary session that began this Monday.

Stoltenberg made it public

, putting Orban in a very uncomfortable position.

He couldn't delay it any longer.

He needed a reason to give in.

Two things occurred to them.

One was the conclusion of

a military-industrial agreement

and the other a visit by the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson to Budapest.

The first was a recycled demand, since Sweden and Hungary had been negotiating for a year and a half over the

review and modernization of the 14 '

Gripen' 'fighter' aircraft that the Hungarian Air Force has rented since 2006 and the

acquisition of new devices

and weapons.

The second was a matter of national pride, as Kristersson had declared that he would only travel to Budapest if there was ratification.

The Hungarian side connected the dots and created the farce that the accession treaty would only be ratified by Parliament after negotiations in Hungary.

The solution was as follows: on Tuesday the 20th, the leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, Máté Kocsis, made a binding promise that the accession treaty would be ratified on Monday the 26th. The Swedish Prime Minister announced his visit to Budapest immediately afterwards, although he stated that joining NATO was not on the agenda of the talks with Orban in Budapest.

Orban and Kristersson followed the script to the letter.

Their Defense Ministers signed the agreements that had already been negotiated on the 'Gripen', whose rental contract expires in two years,

the purchase of four more 'fighters' was signed

and in addition, it was announced that the Swedish

Saab

group will create a

artificial intelligence research institute

in which Hungary will not only participate in the use of the equipment, but also in its development.

The Hungarian Prime Minister says there has been no deal in return for ratifying Sweden's accession treaty.

"Belonging to NATO consists of being prepared to die for each other in the event of a foreign attack," the Hungarian ultranationalist leader reiterated.

With Hungary's green light for the Scandinavian country's entry, Orban marks the beginning of "a long process of rebuilding trust with Sweden. There are good intentions, and the objective of the Hungarians is to make friends and relations with Sweden have great potential "said Orban.

Furthermore, he recalled that trade flows with that country have doubled since 2010 and cooperation in nuclear energy is fruitful.

There are currently around 180 Swedish companies operating in Hungary's most innovative sectors, employing 70,000 Hungarians.

Some of them participate in the Paks 2 energy project.

Changing requests

The liturgy of Hungary's ratification of Sweden's accession has been

a mass of tactical considerations

on Orban's part.

He first tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Swedish EU Presidency

to remove

from the agenda the

Article 7

procedure , which allows

the suspension of rights as a member of the European Union

if

a country seriously

and persistently breaches the

principles

on which it is based. the Union.

Later they wanted to use the Swedish case as a trigger to

obtain the funds blocked by the EU

, although what they were doing was a favor to Turkey and by extension to Russia.

Orban has returned to the fold, but has not rebuilt his credibility as a partner.