By Athena Papakosta

Hungary’s parliament gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO two years after Stockholm decided to abandon 200 years of neutrality and formally apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristerson, immediately after the ratification of the protocol in the Hungarian Parliament spoke of a “historic day” and “a big step” for his country.

Following Turkey’s approval, Hungary was the last of the Alliance’s 31 Member States not to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, and with 188 votes out of 199 MPs, the country’s parliament cleared the way for Hungary to become the 32nd member of the Alliance.

“We are joining NATO to better defend everything we are and everything we believe in,” the Swedish Prime Minister emphasized.

As he added “when Sweden becomes a member of NATO, it will be the first time, after 500 years, where the Nordic countries will have a common defense”.

Finland, which borders Russia and applied at the same time as Sweden about two years ago, joined NATO in April last year.

For his part, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the development, stressing that the decision of the Hungarian parliament made the Alliance “more powerful and strong.”

The end of the months-long negotiations for Sweden’s accession to NATO was preceded, just 24 hours before, by Ulf Kristerson’s visit to Budapest, where the agreement between the two countries was sealed for the supply of four combat aircraft from Sweden to Hungary – in addition to the 14 already used by its air force.

“Being members of NATO means that we are ready to die for each other. “Our relationship is based on mutual respect,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, having already signed the defense industry agreement with Sweden.

Speaking to Nordic broadcaster SVT, Magdalena Andersson, Sweden’s former prime minister, who launched the process in May 2022, said the development would “strengthen our security”.

According to the procedure, the ratification must be signed by the speaker of the parliament and the president of the country within a few days. The United States should then be informed so that the Secretary General can invite the new country to join the treaty, which in turn will be sent to the US State Department to formally invite it to become a member of NATO.

For the Prime Minister of Hungary “it was wise to proceed with this process at the appropriate pace” while, for Stockholm, as the Swedish Prime Minister emphasized last Friday from Budapest, “we respect each other’s differences and sometimes we end up in good compromises”