Hungary’s Parliament has ratified Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
Hungarian MPs voted unanimously in favour of the resolution – 188 to 6.
The vote brought to an end months of delays and came following a visit by Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson during which both the countries also signed an arms deal.
“Sweden is leaving 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment behind. We are joining Nato in order to defend what we are and everything we believe in even better. We are defending our freedom, our democracy and our values, together with others,” Kristersson said.
The Hungarian government led by prime minister Viktor Orban has been under increasing pressure from Nato allies to seal Sweden’s accession. In his speech, Orban criticised unnamed Nato allies for exerting pressure on his government to end the 21-month delay.
“Hungary is a sovereign country and does not tolerate being dictated to by others, on the content or timing of decisions,” he said.
The US has welcomed the entry of Sweden into the alliance.
“We would like to welcome Sweden alongside Finland into the Nato alliance very, very soon,” said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
Stockholm has abandoned its non-alignment policy, which lasted for over two World Wars for greater safety following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Over the years, Sweden has been part of various Nato operations such as Afghanistan.
Many analysts believe that the Nordic country would also bring resources such as cutting-edge submarines tailored to the Baltic Sea conditions and a sizeable fleet of domestically produced Gripen fighter jets.
Along with Hungary, Turkey too had withheld approval of Sweden’s application in a row over what it called Sweden’s support to Kurdish separatists. It eventually lifted its veto in January.
Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland, considered militarily neutral announced their intention to join Nato in May 2022.
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