The Hungarian parliament approved the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership on Monday. There has been speculation in advance that the signature of Hungary’s new president could delay the process. He will start his post on March 5.
The final seal of Sweden’s NATO membership will not take place yet this week, says the Swedish TV company SVT on its website, among other things. According to SVT, the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström had to travel to Washington, USA, this week for the event where Sweden’s NATO membership documents are deposited with the US State Department.
In the same connection, a reception was supposed to be organized at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, but it has been postponed.
Sweden’s ambassador to the United States has sent an email to the reception’s invited guests that the deposit of documents will not take place this week. Therefore, the reception is postponed to a later date.
Billström’s media representative had told SVT via text message that the foreign minister would not comment on the possible delay in Hungary’s ratification process. In addition, regarding the trip to Washington, work has been done all the time according to different scenarios.
The Hungarian parliament approved the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership on Monday. In the same parliamentary session, a new president was elected for Hungary, Tamas Sulyok, who will take office on March 5. Sulyok still needs to sign the parliament’s ratification decision. There has been speculation beforehand that the Hungarian president’s signature could delay the process.
As for Finland, the process progressed in such a way that the then foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green) handed over the membership documents to the US Secretary of State at the NATO headquarters in Brussels To Antony Blinken.