After almost two years of waiting, the Hungarian Parliament approved Sweden’s accession to NATO on Monday February 26, by an overwhelming majority of deputies (188 votes in favor out of 199 seats). This was the final step for the Nordic country wishing to join the Atlantic Alliance, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The wait will have been long and the road chaotic: to the negotiations with Turkey, concluded by a positive vote in January, were added the procrastination of the Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orban.
He had certainly given his agreement in principle a long time ago, but before completing the process, he demanded “respect” from Stockholm, considered too critical of his policies. The situation has finally been resolved in recent weeks, with the visit on Friday of the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, marking the epilogue of “a long process to rebuild trust”, in the words of Mr. Orban. To seal this cooperation, the two countries announced the purchase by Budapest of four combat aircraft from Sweden, strengthening its current fleet of fourteen Gripen aircraft.
“Today is a historic day”, greeted Ulf Kristersson on X, just after the vote in the Hungarian Parliament. “Sweden is ready to assume its responsibilities for Euro-Atlantic security,” added the Swedish Prime Minister.
Sweden, 32nd member of NATO
The parliamentary vote, which took place late in the afternoon, was expected to be unsurprising given the two-thirds majority held by the ruling coalition. The opposition also voted in favor, with the exception of the far-right Our Fatherland.
Sweden’s NATO accession protocol, which requires unanimity among Atlantic Alliance members, has been on hold since May 2022. After the Hungarian Parliament voted in favor on Monday, the law is expected to be signed into law by the president in the coming days. Sweden will then be able to deposit its “instrument of accession” in Washington, in accordance with NATO practices, to become its 32nd member.
In the case of Finland, for example, Ankara gave the green light on March 30, 2023 and Finland submitted the document on April 4, therefore joining the Alliance five days after the Turkish vote. Stockholm announced its candidacy in the wake of the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine, at the same time as Helsinki.
Over the months, Hungary had continued to delay the deadline, each time invoking different pretexts.
Sweden thus puts an end to its military non-alignment
Sweden’s accession to NATO will put an end to two hundred years of military non-alignment for the Nordic country, which thus breaks with its policy of neutrality adopted after the end of the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century, then of non-alignment military since the end of the Cold War. This membership marks a profound change for Swedish defense, which is now part of a collective, and a major geopolitical development for the region.
Former Social Democratic Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist still declared in autumn 2021 that he could “guarantee” that he would never participate in an accession process. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a dramatic shift in party and opinion, and a clear majority of parliament voted in May 2022 to apply for NATO membership.
Sweden’s – and Finland’s – membership in NATO also means that the Baltic Sea is now surrounded by Alliance member countries, with some analysts calling it a “NATO lake”. “This is the last piece of the puzzle of the NATO map in Northern Europe that is falling into place,” Robert Dalsjö, an analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, told Agence France-Presse.
