Hungary ruling Fidesz party puts off ratification of Finland, Sweden NATO accession again

The ruling coalition of Orbán's Fidesz party and its junior ally, the Christian Democrats (KDNP) want to wait for delegations travelling to Sweden and Finland next week to return, local news portal hvg.hu reported on Thursday.

According to the official justification, there are many in the government faction who are reluctant to support the two countries' membership of NATO because of criticism from Sweden and Finland about the Hungarian rule of law, which they consider unfounded, and so there would not be a majority in favour of the Scandinavian countries' accession if the vote were held next week.

This, however, is a ludicrous argument, as all opposition parties apart from far-right Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk) support the Scandinavian countries' accession to NATO, which means that 97 out of 135 MPs in the Fidesz-KDNP caucus would have to vote against the government's proposal, which would be unprecedented.

The portal does not speculate what could be the actual reason for the delay, but notes that the "dispute settlement" delegation is not going to the Nordic countries in an official capacity, and their negotiations have no legal binding force.

Parliament was at last to kick off a debate on Wednesday on whether Finland and Sweden should be given the go-ahead to join NATO. Orbán's government has been dragging its heels on the ratification since last summer, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been blocking Sweden’s application, alleging that Stockholm is harbouring Kurdish militants.

Orbán evidently has an iron grip on his Fidesz party, yet last Friday he pointed to Finland and Sweden’s previous criticism of Hungary’s record on rule-of-law issues, asserting that some in his party have second thoughts about admitting countries in NATO that are “spreading blatant lies about Hungary, about the rule of law in Hungary, about democracy, about life here.”

“How, this argument runs, can anyone want to be our ally in a military system while they’re shamelessly spreading lies about Hungary?”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also urged Turkey and Hungary to green-light the enlargement.

The Hungarian parliament has made it clear that they will start the discussions within a few days so I hope that they will ratify soon,

said Stoltenberg.

When asked if NATO is in dialogue with Budapest about this issue, and whether the Hungarians made it clear what they want, Stoltenberg replied he had "nothing to add".

We have heard exactly the same messages from Budapest that they will ratify in the near future. [...] The time has come. Finland meets all the criteria as do Sweden. So we are working hard and the aim is to have this in place as soon as possible,

he added.

Orbán’s comments have confirmed fears in Brussels that the nationalist Hungarian leader could try to use his leverage over NATO enlargement to extract concessions on rule-of-law issues, in a bid to unlock currently withheld EU funds.

An official from Stockholm told Politico it was not surprising to see Hungary resorting to ransom again — but argued it was unlikely to succeed, first because “everyone is getting tired of the same blackmail tactics” at the EU level, and because rule of law is important to other EU members, too:

Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands have all been principled on” upholding the rule of law as a non-negotiable basis of EU integration. France and Germany have also become much stronger on this,

the official said.

Lastly, the Commission and Parliament would also check whether Hungary has actually reformed before granting the country fresh EU cash.