Hungarian Parliament Approves Accession, Sweden Soon To Become A NATO Member

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson. (Source: NATO)

JAKARTA - Sweden is getting closer to the membership status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after the Hungarian Parliament approved access to the Nordic nation on Monday, the last hurdle that would change the country's neutrality policy, which has gone through two World Wars and the Cold War.

Voting in Hungary ended months of delays to finalize Sweden's security policy changes, following Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's visit on Friday, in which the two countries signed a weapons agreement.

"Swedia has left the neutrality and impartiality of the military for 200 years," PM Kristersson told a news conference.

"We are joining NATO to defend ourselves and everything we believe in better. We defend our freedom, our democracy and our values, together with others," he continued.

Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government had faced pressure from NATO allies to be in line and ensure Sweden's access to the alliance.

"We want to immediately welcome Sweden with Finland into the NATO alliance," said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

He encouraged the Hungarian government to immediately complete a process that would allow Sweden to enter NATO.

Hungarian ratification, backed by a majority of lawmakers, will now be signed by the chairman of parliament and the country's president in a few days. After that, other formalitys, such as the submission of accession documents in Washington, will most likely be completed quickly.

"Swedish membership will make us all stronger and safer," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote to X.

Stockholm left a non-block policy for greater security by joining NATO, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sweden's joining NATO, after Finland previously, went against President Vladimir Putin's intention when Russia invaded Ukraine, anticipating the expansion of the Western defense alliance.

"When it comes to Russia, the only thing we can hope for is that they will not like Sweden being a member of NATO," said PM Kristersson.

"What they do other than that, we don't know. We are ready to face everything," he said.

Sweden's accession, which has not been at war since 1814, and Finland is the most significant expansion of the alliance since the country received members from Eastern Europe after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

While Sweden has stepped up cooperation with NATO in recent decades, contributing to operations in places like Afghanistan, its membership is designed to simplify defense planning and cooperation on the north side of the alliance.

Sweden and Finland are proposing access to NATO membership in 2022, after Russia decided to carry out military operations in Ukraine. Unlike Finland, which gains access from all NATO members first. Sweden's accession process must wait for approval from Turkey and Hungary.