Hungary voted to support Finland’s accession to NATO, ending months of foot-dragging by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and leaving the Nordic country one step away from joining the defense alliance.
While lawmakers in Budapest voted overwhelmingly to support Finland’s membership on Monday, they also kept neighboring Sweden’s application on ice in a dispute that Orban’s party has linked to a clash inside the European Union over the rule of law.
The ratification followed Turkey’s decision to support the Finnish bid last week. Hungary and Turkey are the last holdouts among the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 30 members to approve expansion toward Russia’s Nordic borders after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Hungary had brushed off pressure from the U.S. and its European NATO allies to fast-track the bids of both Finland and Sweden, which most members completed ahead of a NATO summit in July. The parliament in Budapest, dominated by Orban’s ruling party, has yet to schedule a vote on Sweden’s bid.
“All signs and our hope point to a relationship based on mutual respect” with Finland, whereas Hungary hasn’t received such assurances from Sweden, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Tamas Menczer said in parliament. He and his colleagues rejected opposition allegations that Hungary’s delaying tactic served Russia’s interests.
Finland’s membership will enable the alliance to start further securing the area around the Baltic Sea in defense of NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are seen as potential targets of Russian aggression.
Despite its relatively small 5.5 million population, Finland has a reserve of 900,000 troops thanks to a conscription-based system that wasn’t dismantled after the Cold War. It’s able to deploy about a third of them in war time — more than many much larger European nations.
Hungary had previously signaled that it would approve both Nordic members’ accession bids when a delegation of lawmakers from Orban’s ruling Fidesz party visited Helsinki and Stockholm earlier this month.
But a key Orban aide announced last week that criticism of Hungary’s decline in democratic standards would delay a decision on Sweden. Hungary has been struggling to unlock more than $30 billion in E.U. funds that Brussels has suspended on graft and rule-of-law concerns.
“In recent years Swedish government officials, ministers, the prime minister and politicians have made a sport out of questioning the state of Hungary’s democracy,” Balazs Orban, Orban’s chief adviser, wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “As the saying goes, you can talk back to the conductor but then your ticket better be completely in order.”
Orban has also taken a cue from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who maintains his opposition to Sweden’s accession, accusing it of not doing enough to crack down on groups that Turkey labels as terrorist. Turkey has said it will ratify Finland’s bid before its parliament goes on recess ahead of May 14 elections.
Hungary had also delayed Finland’s bid, citing Helsinki’s traditional support for a tough E.U. line to force Orban to shore up his rights record. But, it reversed that stance on Monday, without making clear why it hadn’t also opened the way for Sweden.
“I didn’t get an actual explanation, only the message that they have no intention of delaying any country’s accession,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said after meeting Orban during an E.U. summit in Brussels last week. “I don’t see any reason for delay, but we are aware that every country makes its own decisions.”
