The Hungarian Parliament will meet on Monday 5 February at the request of the opposition parties to discuss Sweden’s application to join NATO.
A session in which Fidesz MPs may not participate, thus postponing ratification.
The Speaker of Parliament, László Kövér, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, recently announced that there was no reason to take this decision before the regular session of Parliament, which begins on 26 February.
Hungary is the last Ally to have to ratify Sweden’s accession.
On Thursday 1 February, the Prime Ministers of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, and Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, discussed the situation alongside the European Council. According to Mr Kristersson, they had “a good conversation, which laid the foundations for a longer-term conversation for the next time, where we both recognised our common denominators and our different opinions on well-known issues”.
Last week, Mr Orbán invited Mr Kristersson to Budapest to negotiate on Sweden’s membership of NATO, an invitation that was refused by Stockholm, which considered that there was nothing to negotiate (see EUROPE 13335/25). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)