NATO Secretary General: I spoke with Orbán, I expect Sweden to become a NATO member in the near future

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently assured NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the Hungarian Parliament would soon approve Sweden's application for NATO membership, the Secretary General revealed at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, held alongside White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The reporter of the Washington Post asked him whether the NATO alliance could still trust Hungary, given that despite repeated assurances that this wouldn't happen, Hungary became the last NATO member state that still hasn't approved Sweden's application.

"I spoke with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a few days ago and he made it very clear that he strongly supports Sweden's membership in NATO. It is also clear that the Hungarian Parliament is not in session at the moment, but will reconvene at the end of February, and his message was that a decision on ratifying Sweden's accession would be taken shortly afterwards. So I expect Sweden to become a full member in the near future," Stoltenberg said.

The Secretary General added that since February 2022, we have been witnessing one of the fastest accession processes in NATO's history. "Finland and Sweden applied in May 2022 and both countries were invited to join the Alliance in July of the same year. Finland became a full member last April and I expect Sweden to follow suit soon. This shows that NATO is not only getting stronger but is also getting bigger, with Finland already a member and Sweden about to become one soon," he said.

The Washington Post journalist also mentioned that some US lawmakers have proposed tougher measures, possibly sanctions and changes to visa rules for Hungary. On this, Jake Sullivan said:

“I'm not going to make specific threats or speculate about what steps we might take in the future, but of course our patience on this issue is not endless. So we will continue to monitor the situation carefully, but we hope that a constructive solution to this issue will be found in the near future.”

The Hungarian Parliament failed to approve Sweden's accession to NATO in the extraordinary session on Monday. The session, initiated by the opposition, was not attended by a single MP the governing party. US Ambassador David Pressman was present, however, and after the meeting he said that "Sweden's accession to NATO directly affects US national security and the security of the alliance as a whole."

Less than two hours before the parliamentary session was due to begin, Fidesz's parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis wrote on his Facebook page that the ratification of Sweden's NATO accession will likely take place at the beginning of the regular session of parliament, but this would first require a meeting between the two prime ministers in Budapest.

“If NATO accession is important to the Swedes, they will come here, just like they went to Turkey.”