Hungary will not ratify Sweden’s NATO accession?
Swedish schools are spreading “serious accusations and fake information” on Hungary, which “does not help” the Hungarian ratification process of Sweden’s NATO membership, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a letter addressed to his Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom, on Thursday. Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said on Tuesday’s government info that Sweden did everything Hungary not to ratify their NATO accession plea.
Gulyás added that Hungary’s foreign ministry had to decide whether to summon the Swedish ambassador, Mandiner wrote.
Noting that Billstrom had initiated several meetings on the issue, Szijjártó said: “I took advantage of these occasions to explain to you the very negative reception of a [series] of biased, unfair and unjust accusations put forward by Swedish politicians. These accusations have challenged the democratic nature of our domestic political system and questioned the maturity of the Hungarian people to make decisions about the future of our own country.”
Hungarian lawmakers obtained their mandates in democratic elections, and often managed that feat multiple times. “If they hear your politicians to judge this as undemocratic or authoritarian, please do not be surprised if they consider this as an insult,” he said. “And now, dear minister, these Members of Parliament have read in the news that as part of your school curriculum … serious accusations and fake information are being spread to students in the schools of Sweden, suggesting that democracy has been on a backslide in Hungary in recent years.”
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“You urge our Parliamentarians to ratify your accession to NATO, while you continue to accuse them … [of] destructing democracy in Hungary, he said.” That contradiction “does not help” the process of ratification along, he said.
Perhaps Mr. Szijjártó should do a tour of the EU and numerous other Member countries to set straight their impression that our democracy is backsliding?
Also – question … How long have we now been in a state of alarm, emergency, rule by decree? I believe we are the only country in the EU in this predicament!
Nobody is questioning democratic elections. Result is what it is, it is the choice of Hungarian voters.
They question the government controlled mass media, continuous use of rule by decree and other aspects of Hungarian politics and law making, which makes you question how democratic Hungary really is. Perfectly legit topic for school discussions. But Hungarian ruling Fidesz politicians want to control what is allowed to be discussed in Swedish schools.
Funny how new Russian text books falsifying very important parts of Hungarian history did not really get any special attention of the government but then this is something that causes to consider summoning the Swedish ambassador and threatening with withholding NATO membership approval.
Kick Hungary out and bring Sweden into NATO. Problem solved.
@ostanus – excellent point that the Russian portrayal of history did not raise the same level of excitement of our Politicians.
@larry – I really really really never want our country to leave NATO. We are so fortunate! We seem to have forgotten the nastiness and fear of the Old Days…
Hungary really never got over fascism… did it?
I used to love going there but…. it’s so sad what it’s becomeing – a mini-belarus ruled by a thuggish autocrat….
Cliff just looking at the billboards everywhere used for political messages by Fidesz tells you that it is an authoritarian regime Hungarians are living under. Soros’s face was plastered all over Hungary for years, “Brussels sanctions” was plastered all over, then the “pro-war left opposition politicians” was plastered all over, etc. Rule by decree has been happening for three years now. The opposition is shut out from television and radio. My mother-in-law listens to an opposition channel that is broadcast by internet and I witnessed first hand when it was subject to a Fidesz hacking attack while it was on air. It takes time but I am hoping that people are slowly waking up to what is going on. The final step in this descent of government will be use of violence and incarceration of opponents on made up charges. At the moment Fidesz is using intimidation tactics for example targeting businesses.
Norbert yes I would like Hungary to stay in NATO but the Fidesz government has to be neutralized within the organization as well as within the EU.