Hungary promises not to slow down Sweden's NATO membership if Turkey ratifies it: how it relates to Ukraine

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday, 4 July, that he had spoken with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan about the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership. According to him, if there are changes in Turkey's position, Hungary will not delay the process. Szijjártó's statement is somehow related to Ukraine.

According to the British news agency Reuters, Péter Szijjártó said that if Turkey ratifies Sweden's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, Hungary will keep its promise not to slow down any country's accession to the military treaty.

"If there is a change in Turkey's position, then of course we will keep our promise that Hungary will not slow down any country's accession to NATO," Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest.

Thus, according to him, since Hungary has made such a promise not to delay the ratification of any country's membership, it should not slow down Ukraine's accession to NATO in the future.

However, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has once again demonstrated the value of Hungary's promise.

Sweden hopes that its formal accession to the Alliance will be decided at the NATO Summit on 11-12 July. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday, 30 June, that Orban had assured him: Budapest will not delay Sweden's accession to NATO.

Despite this, the Hungarian parliament did not include Sweden's ratification in its agenda for the last session before the summer recess, which will take place on 7 July.

It should be noted that the issue of ratification has been pending in the Hungarian parliament since July last year.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL:

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine to join NATO before the end of the war with Russia. This is very important to do right now, the head of state said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that it would be suicidal for Europe not to accept Ukraine into NATO after the war with Russia. Otherwise, the door for Russian aggression on the continent will remain open.

At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukraine hopes to receive concrete decisions on integration into the Alliance, as well as security guarantees for the period of accession.

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