Hungary. Viktor Orban: At the beginning of the spring parliament session we can ratify Sweden's accession to NATO

“Our dispute with Sweden will be resolved soon,” the Fidesz politician said on Saturday at the annual press conference in Budapest. – We are moving in the direction where at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament we can ratify Sweden's accession to NATO – announced the Hungarian Prime Minister.

The spring plenary session of the Hungarian Parliament begins on February 26.

Viktor Orban said that he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had taken steps to “rebuild trust” between the two countries. He did not specify what those steps were.

Representatives of Viktor Orbán's government have repeatedly stressed that Hungary will not be the last member of the alliance to agree to Sweden joining NATO. But this is what happened after the Turkish Parliament ratified Sweden's accession in the second half of last January, and the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed this decision.

At the beginning of February, the ruling coalition of Fidesz and the Patriotic Party of Kurdistan boycotted the extraordinary parliamentary session on accession, which was held at the request of the opposition. The representatives did not attend the Council and the quorum for voting was not reached.

On the same day, ambassadors from several countries in the coalition, including US Ambassador David Pressman, appeared in Parliament to put pressure on Budapest.

Read more: “Today they had the opportunity to do just that.” The “pressure” didn't help

The Hungarian government had previously asked Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to come to Budapest before the vote. Orban sent him an invitation in the second half of January. Kristersson said he was ready to visit, but only after the Hungarian parliament voted in favor of his country joining NATO.