Swedish PM visits Hungary in bid to lift roadblock to NATO membership

In an effort to remove a final obstacle to his country’s accession to NATO, Sweden’s prime minister traveled to Hungary on Friday for talks that his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, said could support the Nordic country’s entry into the NATO. military alliance and commit to a “military-industrial and military agreement” with Hungary.

Hungary, the last country to hold back NATO expansion, has been waiting for 19 months for Sweden’s accession to be ratified, a delay that has confused and dismayed the United States and other members of the military alliance.

The visit to Budapest, the Hungarian capital, by Swedish leader Ulf Kristersson reversed his earlier position that he was willing to travel to meet Mr Orbán, but only after the Hungarian parliament voted to reject NATO’s membership to approve his country. That vote is now expected on Monday, when Parliament, in which Orban’s ruling Fidesz party has a large majority that consistently follows the prime minister’s instructions, reconvenes after a winter break.

Hungary has given several explanations for its foot-dragging. In a radio interview shortly before Mr. Kristersson’s arrival in Budapest, Mr. Orban added a twist to the saga, linking Sweden’s NATO admission to the resolution of what he described as “pending military and armaments issues” between the countries.

Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets, supplied to Hungary under a lease agreement, form the backbone of the small eastern European country’s air force, and pro-government news media in Hungary have reported that Mr Orban has pushed for a better deal.

“This process will be completed today in Budapest,” Mr Orban said on Kossuth Radio on Friday morning. “We will conclude a military-industrial and military agreement, a serious agreement considering the size of our country, and we will also establish some directions and goals for military cooperation.”

An agreement on military cooperation, Mr. Orban said, was part of “a confidence-building process” between the two countries that would help convince Fidesz lawmakers that “it is worth supporting Sweden’s accession.”

When Mr Kristersson arrived in Budapest, Saab, the maker of Gripen fighter jets, said announced that it had signed a contract with the Swedish state to supply four additional fighter planes to Hungary. That will bring to 18 the number of Swedish-made fighter jets used by the country. No financial terms were disclosed.

However, some diplomats and analysts see Orban’s claims of a major agreement with Sweden on military cooperation as a face-saving way out of an impasse that critics say has seriously damaged Hungary’s reputation as a reliable ally without delivering clear benefits.

The most tangible benefit for Hungary, or at least for Mr. Orbán, is all the attention paid to a country that otherwise has little military, diplomatic or economic clout. It accounts for just 1 percent of the European Union’s economic output and has a military with about 40,000 active-duty members, about the size of New York City’s police force.

Hungary became the final obstacle to Sweden’s accession to NATO after the Turkish parliament voted in favor of it last month. After the Turkish vote left Hungary alone, Mr. Orban assured NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, that the “Hungarian government” supports Sweden’s membership and would urge Parliament to act “at the first possible opportunity”. But when opposition lawmakers convened a session of parliament early this month to vote on Sweden’s accession, Fidesz boycotted the session.

Military cooperation has only recently emerged as an explanation for Hungary’s inability to fulfill its repeated promises not to be the last country to ratify Sweden’s membership. It previously cited Swedish accusations of democratic backsliding in Hungary under Mr Orban, teaching materials critical of Hungary in Swedish schools and comments Mr Kristersson made years before taking office.

Sweden’s membership has also been entangled in Orban’s frosty relations with the Biden administration, which strongly supports Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, and with the Hungarian leader’s opposition to Washington’s policy of tying Ukraine up with support weapons. “We would very much like to see President Trump return to the White House and make peace here in the eastern half of Europe,” Orban said last Saturday. in his annual State of the Nation address.

A bipartisan delegation of US senators who visited Budapest last weekend to urge Hungary to ratify Sweden as a NATO member were given the cold shoulder as Hungarian ministers and Fidesz lawmakers all refused to meet with them. In a post on social mediaHungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the country will not be influenced by foreign delegations. “It’s not worth visiting U.S. senators to put pressure on,” he said.

In a sign of growing frustration, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, this month called Mr. Orban “NATO’s least trustworthy member” and raised the possibility of imposing sanctions to Hungary for blocking the expansion of the alliance.