BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that his country was “on course” to ratify Sweden’s Nato accession bid this month as Budapest remains the last holdout.

“The good news is that our current dispute with Sweden is moving towards a conclusion,” Orban said in his state-of-the-nation address. “Together with the Swedish PM, we have taken important steps in order to rebuild trust,” he said, without giving further details.

“We are on course to ratify Sweden’s accession to Nato at the beginning of parliament’s spring session,” he added. Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on Feb 26.

On Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said his country hoped that Hungary will soon ratify its accession to Nato, removing the last obstacle to its membership.

Billstrom reiterated there would be no negotiations on the ratification despite Orban inviting his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson to “negotiate” Sweden’s accession.

“There is nothing to negotiate, if there is a visit, it’s not going to be a negotiation, that has been made very clear by my prime minister,” the Swedish minis­ter said earlier this week.

Although it supports Sto­ckholm in principle, Buda­pest prolonged the process by asking Sweden to stop “vilifying” the Hungarian gov­ernment, which is accused of taking an authoritarian turn.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2024