Finland

Hungary will veto Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO accession?

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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán noted in a today morning interview that the government has asked parliament to support Sweden’s and Finland’s applications for NATO membership. He added, however, that “some deputies of the ruling parties are not overly enthusiastic”, because the accession of these Nordic states would mean that the NATO-Russia border will be extended by hundreds of kilometres. Furthermore, “these states spread obvious lies about our democracy and the rule of law here”.
The decision needs a majority, the governing parties have 134 deputies out of the 199, so they will decide about the fate of Stockholm’s and Helsinki’s NATO bid. PM Orbán told public radio on Friday that if Sweden and Finland “expect Hungary to be fair and agree to their NATO accession, then those countries must also be fair and stop spreading false information about Hungary.” Orbán said Türkiye was concerned about “Sweden harbouring terrorist organisations” opposed to Türkiye, which was “also an ally whom we must listen to”.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary group of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties have asked the speaker of Hungarian parliament to send a delegation to Sweden and Finland for coordination talks regarding the NATO membership of the two countries, Fidesz group leader Máté Kocsis said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked the ruling lawmakers to back Sweden and Finland’s membership of the alliance, though opinions on the matter were divided at their meeting Balatonfüred, in western Hungary, Kocsis told a press conference.

“A serious debate developed, with several lawmakers making a point that politicians of Sweden and Finland had crudely and baselessly offended Hungary … over the past few years, and they are now asking a favour,” he said. Kocsis said the move would fall into the course of normal parliamentary proceedings and it would not entail an extension of these. No postponement of the decision by parliament is expected, he added. According to napi.hu, the Hungarian parliament will decide in the matter on 1 March, the third day of the spring season starting next Monday.

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Here is when the Hungarian Parliament can vote on Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession

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The Hungarian Parliament could vote on the last possible day on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. Earlier, foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said that they could not vote on it because of Brussels, because they did not have the time.

On 7 December, the Hungarian Parliament may vote on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, Szabad Európa reports. The paper says the statement was made at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Madrid.

The last possible day to decide

MSZP MEP Tamás Harangozó was surprised to hear the head of the Belgian delegation say in his speech that his Hungarian friends had informed him that they could vote on ratification on 7 December. The date has also been confirmed to the Hungarian politician by the government MPs.

The last sitting of the Parliament this year will be on 5-6-7 December. This means that they have pushed it to the last possible day to decide on the issue.

28 out of 30 NATO members already voted yes

Finland and Sweden are waiting for ratification of their NATO membership applications. By 16 October, 28 of the 30 NATO member states had already completed the formal procedure, supporting the admission of Finland and Sweden to the military alliance, hvg.hu writes.

However, two Member States have not yet ratified the agreement. One is Turkey, the other Hungary. Earlier, Péter Szijjártó said that the Parliament is discussing the draft legislation submitted at Brussels’ request at such a fast pace that it does not have time to deal with the question.

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Debrecen to host Finnish film festival for 1st time

Debrecen will host a festival of Finish film for the first time between November 8 and 10, the Finish Institute (Finnagora), the organiser, told MTI on Wednesday.

The aim is to take the highly popular festival presenting new titles to outside Budapest, Finnagora said.

The festival will open with Tova, a film about renowned author, novelist and painter Tove Jansson, the creator of the Moomins books, and her life in post-war Helsinki.

The programme includes the thriller The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, a winner of the Audience’s Award at this year’s Venice film festival. It also includes First Snow, The Night Forgives and the road movie Ladies of Steel.

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All eyes on Hungary: PM Orbán will baulk NATO expansion?

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Sweden and Finland decided to join NATO months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. The Nordic neighbours’ applications were supported by 28 member states, excluding Orbán’s Hungary and Erdogan’s Turkey. Before, opposition politicians believed Orbán did not want the Fidesz-led parliament to discuss the issue because the European Union did not give Hungary access to billions of euros in the recovery and resilience fund.

However, it seems that Finland and Sweden are running out of patience. Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, urged Hungary and Turkey today to approve the Swedish and Finnish applications as soon as possible. “All eyes are now on Hungary and Turkey. We are waiting for these countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be important that this would happen preferably sooner than later,” Marin said during a joint news conference with other Nordic leaders, Reuters wrote.

The two Scandinavian countries expressed last week that they would like to join the US-led alliance together and at the same time. That statement served the purpose of showing a united front to Turkey, the alliance’s strongest European member, having several controversial points with Sweden. Istanbul accuses Stockholm of harbouring groups Erdogan’s government deems terrorists.

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On the last regular government info held on 22 October, Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said that the parliament would discuss Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO accession during the fall session of the parliament, atv.hu wrote. The delay’s cause was that the priority in September and October were the bills concerning the EU’s infringement and rule-of-law procedures to access the billions of euros withheld by Brussels due to corruption accusations against the government. Furthermore, he expressed that the government supports the bid of the two Nordic countries.

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, tweeted today that he spoke with Finnish PM Sanna Marin and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson via phone. “As NATO invitees Finland and Sweden have proven that it’s every country’s right to choose its own path, Russia must respect the rights of other countries and stop its war of aggression in Ukraine”, he added.

 

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Hungarian Parliament not yet to vote on ratification of Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO

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The majority of the governing party voted down the MSZP motion that would have set the parliamentary vote on Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership for Tuesday 4 October, according to a Facebook post by the proposer of the motion, Bertalan Tóth.

For a new member state to join NATO, it must be ratified by all existing member states in their parliaments. According to 24.hu, apart from Hungary, Turkey is the only NATO member that has not yet ratified the two countries’ accession to the military alliance.

The Hungarian government tabled a proposal to support Swedish and Finnish accession two and a half months ago, but it has still not been put on the agenda for adoption.

The opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) would have accelerated the adoption of the two proposals and asked for them to be put on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.

This was rejected by Speaker László Kövér on his own authority, and when the MSZP asked for an open vote on the issue, he voted it down together with the Fidesz majority.

The Parliament’s press department told Telex earlier that the vote on the two countries’ NATO membership is on the autumn parliamentary agenda, but did not say when exactly it would take place.

It was announced before the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June that all member states had agreed to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. However, to finalise the process, not only do the leaders of the countries have to agree, but the parliaments of the countries also have to sign the laws to this effect. This has now been done by all except Turkey, which is already opposed to accession, and Hungary, which is waiting for an unknown reason.

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