Orbán's letter of invitation to Swedish PM made public

444.hu has published the letter of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán inviting Ulf Kristersson to Hungary to discuss Sweden's accession to NATO. The invitation was not for a specific date, but since it was sent, Turkey has approved Sweden's membership in NATO, making Hungary the last member state which still has not done so.

Responding to the letter, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said that Sweden saw no reason for negotiations in Hungary, and also noted that the tone of Orbán's letter and that of his post on X were different.

On X, Orbán only wrote: “Today I sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson @SwedishPM for a visit to Hungary to negotiate on Sweden’s NATO accession.”

And the letter reads:

It had been previously suggested that the Hungarian Parliament would vote on the Swedish request during the summer of 2023, but that did not happen. Hungarian government MPs have thus been postponing the vote for more than a year and a half, for various reasons, one of which was that “Swedish politicians have insulted Hungary”. As recently as the end of December, speaking at a government briefing, the Prime Minister said that Hungarian MPs had not yet been able to stomach the decision.