After several postponements, the Hungarian parliament has ratified Finland's NATO accession protocol with an overwhelming majority. 182 MEPs voted for the adoption, six against. There were no abstentions. Hungary is the last NATO country apart from Turkey to have ratified Finland's NATO membership.

Parliament has debated the analogous accession protocol for Sweden, but has not yet put the vote on it on the agenda. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban appears to be in close coordination with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. So far, the latter has only approved Finland's NATO membership, but not Sweden's.

The right-wing populist Orban maintains a friendly relationship with Erdogan. Hungary is the only EU country with observer status in the Council of Turkic Peoples, which is dominated by Erdogan. The Hungarians themselves are not Turkic.

Orban had the debate and vote postponed several times

Orban, who makes all the key decisions in the country himself, has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the two Nordic countries joining NATO. At the same time, however, he repeatedly had the debate and vote on ratification postponed under various pretexts. Among other things, he complained that Swedish and Finnish politicians and the media had unfairly criticized Hungary for deficiencies in the rule of law and corruption.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland decided last year to apply for NATO membership after a long period of military non-alignment. Turkey, which currently has to agree as one of the 30 members, reported concerns from the outset. She accuses Sweden of a lack of action against "terrorist organizations". Ankara is primarily concerned with the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.