Hungarian delegation in Helsinki disappointed with Finland's position on Hungary

Following their visit to Sweden, the Fidesz negotiating delegation sent on a mission of orientation and information gathering, led by Csaba Hende was already in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Wednesday morning for talks on the Swedish and Finnish NATO accession. According to Helsingin Sanomat, the delegation has already met with Finnish House Speaker Matti Vanhanen, who said that they had a clarifying discussion. At this meeting, the Hungarian partners expressed their disappointment with Finland's position on Hungary. Vanhanen said that the Hungarians denied any link between EU policy and the ongoing NATO processes.

"They fully acknowledged that Finland meets the criteria for NATO membership and they are dealing with Finland's NATO membership solely on the basis of the criteria for NATO membership," Vanhanen said. He also added that Hungary has no claims against Finland.

At the same time, he denied that Hungary had acted in the same way towards them as it had towards the Swedes, when the delegation accused Swedish politicians of spreading lies about Hungary.

Csaba Hende, the Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly responsible for legislative affairs and head of the Hungarian delegation, said through an interpreter that the Hungarian parliament, with the exception of a small party, supports the ratification of Finland's membership NATO membership, but he did not comment on where the ratification process is, nor on Viktor Orbán's position.

Update: Reuters reports that after the talks in Helsinki, Csaba Hende also said that:

"This is a promising start, but it provides no indication as to when and what decision will be reached (...) It usually takes five to six weeks for a proposal to go through the parliamentary decision-making mechanism in Hungary. It's not a rule, it's simply normal procedure".

(Hende failed to mention that last summer the government passed the infamous tax-reform law within a few days, or that last week the amendment to the law on the Hungarian Medical Chamber was passed in two days and promulgated on the third.)

After the conclusion of the talks, journalists asked Csaba Hende about the meeting. The head of the Hungarian delegation said that at the meeting, they first and foremost agreed about raising bilateral parliamentary relations to a higher level and returning them to a more normal course.

"There has not been a high-level meeting between the legislatures of the two countries in the last 10 years and this is quite unusual between two sister nations,"

he said.

According to hvg.hu, he was also asked what Russia thinks about the accession of Finland and Sweden. Hende replied that he could not think with Russia's head, but that he personally was not worried because he saw no indication that Moscow had any intentions of aggression towards Finland or Sweden at the moment. But if that were to change in the future, all member states of NATO, including Hungary, would stand up for their freedom. "That is why we need to build a new foundation of mutual respect and appreciation, because one can only fight shoulder to shoulder with those with whom one has mutual respect and appreciation," he said.

Hende denied accusing Sweden of spreading lies. "A reporter asked me if Swedish politicians had lied about Hungary, and I answered yes, in accordance with the facts. If he had asked the same question about Finnish politicians, I can answer yes as well" he said. When asked for examples, he said "I could give you about 100 examples off the top of my head. One of your MEPs, for example, said that the Hungarian government had appointed a party loyalist to a judgeship. In Hungary, the government does not appoint anyone as a judge, because it is the committees of judges that make the recommendation to the president of the Republic. I hardly know of any other country in the world where the government has so little influence on the judiciary, practically zero," Hende said.

Finnish media also asked about EU criticism of political corruption in Hungary. Here, Hende referred to the EU country report, which said that all was not well in Finland either. When asked what all this has to do with NATO ratification, Hende replied twice that he did not understand the question, and finally said that they were there to talk about relations between the two countries.

Minister of Defense Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky spoke about bilateral military relations after the Swedish meeting, and after the Finnish meeting he wrote: "I have assured my counterpart, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen of the support of the Hungarian government, but – as I also told Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson yesterday – we do ask for more respect for Hungary".

Hungary and Turkey are the last two NATO countries that have not yet approved the membership of Finland and Sweden in the alliance. The Hungarian parliament is expected to decide on the ratification of NATO membership later this month. Meanwhile, trilateral talks between Turkey, Finland and Sweden will resume in Brussels on Thursday.