Budapest will back a Swedish NATO membership once a still intransigent Ankara, the other sole holdout among all 31 member states, signals that it’s equally ready to do so.
“If there is movement there, then of course we will keep our pledge that Hungary will not delay any country’s membership,” Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told reporters in Budapest during a press conference on Tuesday, July 4th.
He added that, regarding a possible ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, he had been, and in the coming days will be, in “close and continuous” contact with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
Szijjártó said he’d held numerous calls with Turkey’s foreign minister, and that Turkey will “consult with the Swedes as well as NATO leaders” regarding efforts to break the impasse on Sweden’s NATO membership.
Earlier that day, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had voiced Ankara’s continuing reluctance to let Sweden into NATO and called on Sweden to fulfill its commitments under a deal it struck last year at a NATO summit in Madrid aimed at addressing Ankara’s security concerns.
In return, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had lifted Ankara’s veto on Finland (since made a member) and Sweden joining the military alliance.
“In terms of strategic and security assessment, it is now more open to debate whether Sweden’s membership in NATO will be a burden or a benefit,” Fidan told reporters at a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart.
In this, Fidan referred to a spate of recent anti-Islamic demonstrations (which included the highly provocative act of burning the Quran) and for Kurdish rights in Sweden, putting considerable strain not only on relations between Stockholm and Ankara but between Stockholm and the broader Islamic world.
In light of this, Fidan said Sweden’s seeming allowance for such insults against the religion could cause security problems for NATO and, by extension, raise questions over the security and strategic contribution of Sweden itself.
In response to a question, Fidan said that Ankara however still wants to move forward in accordance with promises which had already been made. “We call on Sweden to continue its efforts and fulfill its homework just like it has been seen in Finland’s case,” he said, referring to the latter’s ability to uphold its end of the deal.
With a crucial NATO summit planned for next week in Vilnius, pressure on Ankara and Budapest is mounting to ratify Sweden’s bid as soon as possible.
Yet, as Ankara continues to deny Sweden its consent, Hungary’s parliament has not even put the ratification (the process of which had been stranded there since last July) on this week’s agenda before the summer recess. Its last meeting will be held Friday, July 7th.
Given the state of play, Sweden’s entrance into NATO is then far from being in the offing.
