Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has confirmed that Hungary will not complete the ratification process for Sweden and Finland to join NATO until early 2023, despite the assumption that it would be this year.
Orbán has stressed that Hungary supports the enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance and has advanced that the parliamentary vote will take place in the first session of 2023. «The two (Nordic) countries have not lost a single minute for Hungary,» he said, according to statements released by his government.
Sweden and Finland are also awaiting the approval of Turkey, the country that has been most reluctant to join NATO. The enlargement of the bloc requires the endorsement of all 30 member states, so it is necessary that all the allies do their part.
Orbán referred to this issue during a meeting in Slovakia of the Visegrad group, which also includes Poland and the Czech Republic, and also took the opportunity to claim that Hungary has fulfilled «all the requirements» imposed by Brussels to receive funds and that, therefore, all that remains is the approval of the European Commission at the end of the month.
In relation to Ukraine, the Hungarian Prime Minister has insisted that Budapest will continue to provide economic aid to Kiev, but has set a limit to the common commitment: «We will not support any initiative that brings the EU closer to a common debt».
His government announced Thursday that it will provide Ukraine with 187 million euros by 2023 from the European Commission’s proposed macro-financial assistance of 18 billion euros, but stressed that it will do so directly to Kiev and not through a joint mechanism.
