Pundit calls on MPs to reject Sweden’s accession to NATO
September 19th, 2023A veteran right-wing journalist hopes the Hungarian Parliament will refuse to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership in the wake of a Swedish video on the state of democracy in Hungary.
Hungary has kept Sweden waiting on the doorstep of NATO for over a year on account of repeated criticism by Swedish statesmen of the policies of the Hungarian government (See BudaPost, March 28). Nonetheless, Hungarian officials have made it clear that Hungary doesn’t intend to remain the only opponent of Swedish membership – and Parliament will approve the resolution on Sweden’s accession this autumn, when the Turkish National Assembly is expected to do so. Last week, however, Foreign Minister Péter Szíjjártó wrote a letter to his Swedish counterpart protesting against a video aimed at schoolchildren in which Hungary is depicted as a country where democracy has been destroyed. Offensive remarks on the state of democracy in Hungary, the Minister wrote, contradict Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.
In an interview with HÍRTV, László Kövér, the speaker of Parliament said he was not sure Hungary should support Sweden’s NATO accession after the latest incident. ‘We don’t need an ally whose opinion about us and of our love of our country is of the kind expressed in such a video’, the Speaker told HÍRTV.
On the same pro-government channel, András Bencsik, editor of Demokrata was even more explicit in condemning the official Swedish attitude towards Hungary. He said Fidesz MPs should ‘by no means’ vote for Sweden’s accession to NATO.