Ugh. Done. Finally. It was actually supposed to be a walk and then turned into a mixture of marathon, hurdle race and maze crossing. In the end, the Swedes were really exhausted from the exertions and stage defeats. Nevertheless, they sounded solemn early on Monday evening when the last obstacle was finally removed with the Hungarian parliament’s approval of their NATO membership application: “A historic day. The parliaments of all NATO states have now voted for Sweden’s membership,” wrote Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on X. His predecessor, the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, added: “Today’s decision will strengthen the defense of our country and our way of life.”
When Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö jointly submitted their countries’ respective requests on May 18, 2022, both thought the whole thing was basically a mere formality. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was also cautiously optimistic at the time that both countries would perhaps be at the table at the summit in Spain at the end of June.
First humiliation at the hands of Erdoğan. Then the Prime Minister has to promise Hungary fighter jets
Enter Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish president accused the Finns and especially the Swedes of supporting the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria and harboring “terrorists”. Kristersson then said in November 2022 that he just had to fly to Ankara and talk man to man and then it would be fine. A week later, there he was in Ankara, the new prime minister, looking next to the Turkish president, who towered two heads higher than him, like the little schoolboy who was told that he hadn’t done his homework. Erdoğan handed over a list of names. Sweden has to extradite 130 people, including Swedish citizens, but nothing will happen beforehand.
Something finally happened, but only after Sweden lifted its ban on arms exports to Turkey and changed its own terror legislation. After repeated Koran burnings, Erdoğan also demanded that Sweden please revise its demonstration and freedom of expression laws. Ankara also let Washington know how much it wanted F16-fighter jets. By then there was talk of “bazaar negotiations” in Stockholm. And, what may have been the most painful moment for Stockholm, Erdoğan signed the application from Helsinki, so that Finland was accepted into the alliance as the 31st member in April 2023. Sweden stood alone.
Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, during the vote for Sweden to join NATO: He managed to make his country the last one whose signature was still missing.
(Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP)
But that wasn’t the end of the humiliation: Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, had always said that Swedish membership would be approved before the Turks. In the end, he achieved the feat of making his country the last one whose signature was still missing. Politicians from his Fidesz party claimed they felt “insulted” by Sweden’s repeated criticism of Orbán’s regime and all its attacks on the rule of law and the free press. Kristersson had to personally travel to Budapest last Friday to pay his respects to Orbán and four Gripen-To assure jets. The Hungarian Prime Minister was then able to say with a victorious smile that bilateral disputes had been resolved “in a dignified manner”.
Now, 21 months after the country’s application, Ulf Kristersson has de facto achieved what he promised his compatriots before the 2022 elections. However, the price is very high. A leitmotif and suffering motif in the comment columns of the Swedish newspapers at this time was the question of whether it was ultimately worth giving up the neutrality with which the country had done very well for over 200 years in order to form an alliance with masters like Erdoğan, Orbán and possibly soon Donald Trump. That now has to be proven.
Actually, nothing should go wrong now. Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing NATO Secretary General, sounded on Monday evening as if everything was now in the clear: “Now that all allies have agreed, Sweden will become the 32nd NATO ally. Sweden’s membership will make us all stronger and make it safer.” Hungary’s new President Tamás Sulyok still has to sign the ratification by Parliament. This must then be deposited with the US State Department in Washington. Stoltenberg will then officially invite Sweden into the alliance. Yes, and if the flag is not moved or all flights to Brussels are canceled, a yellow and blue 32nd flag could actually fly in front of NATO headquarters at the end of this week.