Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

NATO

Hungary set to vote on Sweden’s Nato bid on Monday

Hungary's ruling party Fidesz is proposing a vote on Sweden's Nato application when parliament opens on February 26th.

Published: 20 February 2024 08:55 CET
Hungary set to vote on Sweden's Nato bid on Monday
General view of the Hungarian parliament. Photo: AP Photo/Denes Erdos

“Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis proposes that the Hungarian National Assembly hold a final vote on ratifying Sweden’s Nato membership on February 26, pledging Fidesz’s support for the motion,” writes government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs on X.

Hungary’s ratification is the last obstacle to the Nordic country’s membership which Stockholm sought after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Although it insisted it supported Stockholm in principle, Budapest prolonged the process by asking Sweden to stop “vilifying” the Hungarian government, which is accused by critics of being authoritarian.

However on Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he and the Swedish premier had “taken important steps in order to rebuild trust”.

Orban also said the “dispute with Sweden is moving towards a conclusion” and that Hungary was “on course” to ratify the bid.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

MILITARY

Sweden prepared to manage Nato land force in Finland

Sweden is willing to manage a future Nato land force in neighbouring Finland, which shares a border with Russia, the two newest members of the military alliance announced on Monday.

Published: 16 September 2024 13:42 CEST
Sweden prepared to manage Nato land force in Finland

The two Nordic nations dropped decades of military non-alignment and applied for Nato membership in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Finland became a member in 2023 and Sweden this year.

Nato said in July that a so-called Forward Land Forces (FLF) presence should be developed in Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia.

“This kind of military presence in a Nato country requires a framework nation which plays an important role in the implementation of the concept,” Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen told a press conference.

The countries said Finland had asked Sweden to manage the force.

“The Swedish government has the ambition to take the role as a framework nation for a forward land force in Finland,” Häkkänen’s Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson told reporters.

Jonson stressed the process was still in an “early stage” and details would be worked out inside Nato.

There would also be further consultations with the Swedish parliament, he said.

Häkkänen said details about the actual force would be clarified through planning with other Nato members, adding that the number of troops and their exact location had not yet been decided.

Nato says it currently has eight such forward presences, or “multinational battlegroups”, in Eastern Europe – in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

SHOW COMMENTS