Sweden and Finland NATO accession: whose interests does Orbán represent?

After Sweden and Finland requested to join NATO, among the members, only Türkiye and Hungary did not ratify the membership of the two applicant countries. However, according to the Finnish Defence Minister, he has recently received a promise that Hungary would not hinder their accession plans. Furthermore, the Hungarian prime minister already stated that he had asked the parliamentary group to ratify the accession of the two countries.

However, the Hungarian parliament has now postponed the final vote, which was scheduled to be held in early March, Index reports.

The government’s explanation

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, partly blamed the EU last November for the failure to ratify the accession of the two countries, Index recalls. As he said at the time, he believed that the EU wanted to decide on this issue too hastily.

Since then, as it has recently become clear, the decision is still not easy for Hungary. In response to a question from Index a few days ago, Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the Hungarian government had been subjected to a series of false criticisms from Sweden and Finland in recent years. To settle the differences, Hungary is sending delegations to both countries. According to him, once the differences have been settled, the vote on ratification will probably take place in the second half of March.

• Read also: Political scientist: Western allies do not trust Hungary, NATO, EU will kick us out?

Whose real interest is the postponement?

Magnus Christiansson, a professor of military science at the Swedish National Defence University Försvarshögskolan, has expressed serious concerns about Hungary’s latest decision. The Swedish expert’s statement was spotted by Index in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Christiansson said Hungary was trying to take the opportunity to promote its own position. Furthermore, he believes “it is entirely in Putin’s interest.” For, as he said,

Viktor Orbán shares much of Vladimir Putin’s attitude and values.

Despite all of this, the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán recently said that he was personally in favour of ratification. He said that although he had asked the parliamentary group to ratify the accession of the two countries, the majority did not agree. While some of them argued that the accession could pose a great threat, the other half of them complained that the two countries were spreading lies about Hungary’s legitimacy.

Russia expert: Orbán’s work is useful for Putin

Recently, Mark Galeotti, a well-known expert on Russia, visited Hungary at the invitation of Political Capital. On this occasion, Telex had the opportunity to interview him, in which he also discussed the relationship between Orbán and Putin.

He explained that he had studied in depth the way the Russian media portrayed Hungary. Based on this, he believes that the Russian media grabs every chance to show how Orbán contradicts the EU. In each case, they are trying to prove that the unity of the West could collapse. Nevertheless, the expert says there is no sign that Orbán is a particularly popular figure in Russia. In his opinion, the Hungarian Prime Minister is merely a useful idiot for the Russians.

Read alsoPolitical analyst: EU should not allow Orbán to weaken all its sanctions against Russia

Source: index.hu, telex.hu