The Finnish Parliament ratified by a large majority of votes in favor of the country’s accession to NATO, following the visit of the alliance’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, who convened a meeting in Brussels with representatives of Turkey, Sweden, and Finland.
However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has questioned his country’s support for Swedish and Finnish NATO membership in a discussion scheduled for the end of March that could include sending a delegation to Stockholm and Helsinki to examine the situation, which is out of all practice in Europe. Orbán wants to pass the bill to the two governments for having supported criticism of Hungary for dubious democratic practices in the application of the rule of law and for now keeping the reconstruction aid tap closed.
Budapest’s dispute with the European Commission and Parliament, which is keeping the extraordinary funds frozen because of its behavior with respect to European values, is added to Turkey’s reticence towards Sweden. In these circumstances, multiple possibilities open up, the first of which is that the two countries cannot join NATO simultaneously, which would be logical in this case in order to send Russia a political message of solidarity through the gesture.
But if this is not possible because of Turkey’s reticence towards Sweden, the possibility arises that Finland could be the first country to be recognized as a member. Yesterday’s vote in Finland gave the Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, three months to execute formal membership before June 1. In other words, Sweden’s situation with Turkey must be unlocked before then. If Hungary joins the diplomatic labyrinth, the issue would enter a delicate situation.