Sweden's NATO membership will not depend on Hungary – Zsolt Németh

The Chairman of the Hungarian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee is confident that Hungary will approve Sweden's accession to NATO before Turkey does. In ana interview with Szabad Európa, Zsolt Németh also believes that given the differences in size between the countries, the Hungarian Prime Minister's open support for Donald Trump is not an interference in the US election, and said there's "good chemistry" between the former US President and Viktor Orbán.

On the approval of Sweden's NATO accession, which Hungary has been postponing for almost a year and a half, Zsolt Németh said that "it won't depend on Hungary", as the government continues to support NATO's enlargement. He added that they were in constant talks with the Turks on the issue. When asked if this meant that it was not a matter of resentment over the Swedish educational film after all, Németh evaded the question, saying that “The ratification will take place before the Turks.”

On the Swedish educational film, which the government parties objected to, he briefly said that "we would like to see fewer such films and fewer similar statements from Swedish politicians". Zsolt Németh said he felt there had been a slight shift, and that "the atmosphere of mutual respect has been improving". We summarised the various reasons given by the Hungarian governing parties for delaying the approval of Sweden's NATO accesion in this article.

On the "Sovereignty Protection Bill" recently announced by Fidesz group leader Máté Kocsis, the committee chairman said it was not aimed at the United States, but that sovereignty was "one of the hottest topics in the world and in Europe" today. Németh believes it is possible to define in legislation what is meant by "external influence" but he could not give specifics about the legislative package planned for the autumn.

The interview also touched on next year's US elections: when asked whether Orbán's backing of Donald Trump was not interference in US domestic affairs, Németh said

"There is some difference in size between America and Hungary. America is actually capable of intervening in Hungarian domestic politics, while the Hungarian Prime Minister is not so capable of doing that in America."

He added that there is good chemistry between the former US President and the Hungarian Prime Minister.

According to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Hungary continues to condemn Russian military aggression against Ukraine in the strongest terms, and has consistently expressed its support of Ukraine's territorial integrity and right to self-defence. He did not comment on Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó's regular meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, but said that in his opinion there would be no ceasefire nor peace without the participation and consent of the Russians.

According to Zsolt Németh, the Ukrainian-Hungarian dialogue "needs to be improved".

He said that President Katalin Novák has had an important role to play in this, and he hoped that Hungarian-Ukrainian relations had been brought out of this "situation of limited communication".

The first ever handshake between Viktor Orbán and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which happened on Thursday at the 3rd European Political Community Summit in Granada is perhaps a step in that direction.