Hungary Approved Sweden’s NATO Accession

Sweden has overcome the last hurdle on its way to joining NATO after the Hungarian parliament approved the country’s membership.

Reuters news agency reported on this.

Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s NATO accession on Monday, February 26. The decision was supported by 188 Hungarian MPs, with only six voting against it.

Hungary was the last member of the alliance to approve Sweden’s accession. After completing the remaining formal procedures, the country will officially become a NATO member.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the relevant decision on his social networks.

“I welcome the Hungarian parliament’s vote to ratify Sweden’s membership in NATO. Now that all Allies have approved, Sweden will become the 32nd NATO Ally,” he wrote.

The last hurdle on the way to NATO

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion and occupation of Ukrainian lands, Sweden and Finland jointly applied to join NATO in May 2022.

Finland gained membership almost immediately, but Sweden’s accession was blocked by Hungary and Turkey. The latter, in particular, demanded the extradition of representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which the Turkish authorities consider a terrorist organization that threatens state institutions.

The situation changed in October 2023, when Turkey agreed to stop blocking Sweden’s application to join the defense alliance.

Ankara changed its decision after EU representatives agreed to resume negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the alliance and to ease US sanctions on the sale of military technology.

In particular, one of the key agreements was the approval of the sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

As previously reported, last year, the Swedish government decided to increase the country’s defense budget to meet NATO’s common spending standards.