The Swedish government announced on Sunday, April 1st, that it will join the European Commission’s ongoing rule of law case against Hungary at the European Court of Justice, becoming the ninth member state to do so. The decision, however, could hinder Sweden’s NATO accession, since its Hungarian ratification is closely tied to the issue.
As we reported earlier, Hungary ratified Finland’s NATO membership last week on Monday (followed by Turkey on Thursday), but opted for delaying the vote regarding the Swedish bid once more. There is time, since President Erdoğan has clearly implied that he’s not going to hold a vote at least until after the Turkish elections in May, while he keeps negotiating for the extradition of 120 Kurdish activists wanted for terrorism.
While the Hungarian government already agreed to support Stockholm’s NATO bid, a good portion of the parliament would rather see the delicate matter of rule of law resolved first. In the past, Sweden was among the loudest critics of the Hungarian government’s treatment of LGBT people, and Budapest is now seeking guarantees that this will not be the case going forward.
It appears, however, that the Hungarian strategy did not work out—Sweden is now committed to taking the Commission’s side, regardless of whether Hungary ratifies its NATO accession or not. The lawsuit challenges Hungary’s child protection act, seen as discriminating against LGBT people, as it prohibits the “promotion” of homosexuality or gender transition in schools and media. The Commission launched the lawsuit against the act last year, and so far it has been joined by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the European Parliament itself.
The announcement came just a few days after Alice Bah Kuhnke, a Swedish MEP (Greens), attacked her government for its prior inactivity and urged Sweden to join the lawsuit. “Where is the Swedish protest when we are seeing the worst oppression of LGBTQ people in the European Union play out before our eyes in real time?” she asked, adding “I call on Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg to act!”
As the deadline for joining will end in a few days, questions remain regarding whether other member states will also jump in at the last minute. Most notably, for instance, Germany, France, and Spain have so far refused to go further than rebuking the Hungarian law and are quiet about the Commission’s lawsuit.
As for Sweden’s NATO membership, the decision to join the lawsuit will likely have consequences. Hungary cannot delay the ratification indefinitely and deal with the pressure from all other NATO member states. It has time, at least until the Turkish election, to make the Swedes sweat, but the whole thing could drag out for months even after that if Erdoğan decides to stick to his demands.
Either way, there’s no way to deny that while Hungary was left only slightly worse than it was before, joining the lawsuit has just made Sweden’s situation with NATO accession much worse. While Finland is set to formally join the Atlantic alliance on April 4th, Sweden still has a long, bumpy road ahead before it can catch up.
