Yes vote to come after countries’ prime minister said they were “prepared to die for each other” and would end months of diplomatic wrangling
Hungary’s Parliament is finally expected to vote in favor of Sweden joining NATO, nearly two years after the historically neutral country applied to join the western military alliance.
The vote, expected to take place in Budapest on Monday afternoon and follows Friday’s meeting between the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, and Hungarian Premier Viktor Orbán, in which they agreed to put aside their differences – saying they were “prepared to die for each other.”
The two countries also signed a new military agreement during a joint press conference in Bucharest in which Sweden pledged to sell four new Gripen planes to add to the 14 Hungary has previously purchased.
Turkey finally gave its approval to Sweden’s ratification last month/
Sweden applied to join the 31-member military alliance in May 2022, simultaneously witj Finland, in a historic change in the countries’ historical neutrality, that was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three month earlier.
If, as expected, the parliament votes yes, the decision needs to be signed off on by the president who will send it to Washington.
After Kristersson’s visit to Budapest, Orbán hailed “a new phase of cooperation between Hungary and Sweden”.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg discusses Sweden’s accession to the alliance with Hungarian president
