The Portuguese Foreign Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, considered Sweden’s accession to NATO, approved today by the Hungarian parliament, “excellent news”, also alluding to the union of the Atlantic Alliance.
“The ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO by the Hungarian parliament is excellent news, despite the delay. Together we are stronger!”, reads a note published by the head of Portuguese diplomacy on the X social network.
Stockholm’s application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was approved by an overwhelming majority of Hungarian MPs (188 votes out of 199 seats).
Both Finland and Sweden jointly applied to join the Atlantic Alliance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Finland became a full member of NATO on April 4 last year, which meant that the Alliance’s border with Russia more than doubled.
In the case of Sweden, Turkey and Hungary still maintained their veto.
Ankara, which had agreed security commitments with Helsinki and Stockholm, still had doubts about Swedish involvement in the fight against alleged Kurdish terrorism, and approved membership at the end of January.
Once the consensus of all the countries has been reached, in order for Sweden to become a full member of the Alliance and benefit from collective defense in the event of an attack, there are still some administrative steps that need to be completed.
Sweden must deposit the so-called accession protocol in the hands of the United States, which will be kept at the US State Department in Washington.
As a symbolic culmination, the Swedish flag will be raised at a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels, along with those of the other 31 allies.
