German foreign minister calls on Hungary to ratify Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO

November 11. 2022. – 08:11 AM

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On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Turkey and Hungary to open the way for Sweden and Finland to join NATO, MTI reports.

At the NATO summit in Madrid earlier this year, Ankara and Budapest both pledged to allow the two Scandinavian countries to join.

"And that's exactly what should be done now," the German foreign minister said after meeting Tobias Billström, Sweden's diplomatic chief in Berlin.

"The ball is in parliament's court, the government has done its job, the government cannot rush the parliament, which has “very important issues on its agenda all autumn.”

- Levente Magyar, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Foreign Ministry told Telex, when we asked him why the Hungarian parliament still hasn't voted in favour of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. In response to the same question, Deputy Defence Minister Tamás Vargha said that what matters is that the government has submitted the relevant bill, we obviously support the accession of the two countries and it will of course be voted on.

Ankara has vetoed Sweden's NATO membership because it says Stockholm is also negotiating with groups the Turkish leadership considers terrorist, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). One of Erdoğan's demands is that Sweden and Finland extradite alleged terrorists residing on their territory.

Sweden will fully honour its commitments to Turkey on NATO membership, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on a visit to Ankara.

Germany was one of the first countries to ratify the accession applications and continues to encourage others to do so. 28 of NATO's 30 members have already signed the agreement. The German foreign minister noted that it was important for the security of the whole bloc that Hungary and Turkey ratify the treaties before the end of the year.

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