Ulf Kristersson will not “negotiate” with Viktor Orbán

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday, January 26: “We will not negotiate” With Budapest on the issue of his country's membership in NATO, although Hungary remains the last country in opposition. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Swedish counterpart to visit Hungary on Tuesday “Negotiation” About its accession to NATO.

Then Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom clarified that his country had not done so “without reason” Currently to negotiate with Hungary on this topic. On Thursday, Ulf Christerson accepted the invitation, but stressed that the European summit scheduled for February 1 in Brussels would provide an opportunity to hold a meeting.

On Friday, Ulf Kristersson renewed his readiness to go to Budapest, considering that the European Council had offered the opportunity to hold a more practical and more likely meeting, and rejected the idea of ​​negotiating Sweden’s accession to NATO. “I am happy to go to Budapest (…) We have a lot of things to say to each other (…) but there will be no negotiations on the NATO candidacy, and there are no negotiations on this topic.”This was stated by the Prime Minister to the Swedish channel TV4.

“Find an appointment”

There will be no room for “The requirements for our future membership in NATO are not in place. But we can discuss the best way to cooperate within the alliance.He insisted. “We will see each other on Thursday next week at the European Council and then we can start talking.”Ulf Kristersson added.

Regarding a possible visit to Budapest, “We have to find a date, this kind of thing is generally not done in a hurry.”He insisted. “I think his schedule, like mine, is very busy.”. Budapest, which has offered its support in principle but has been dragging its feet for months, calls on Stockholm to halt its policy of “Defamation” Towards the Hungarian government, accused of authoritarian drift.

But Viktor Orban reaffirmed his position on Wednesday “supports” Sweden joined during a phone call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a day after Turkey got the green light. In May 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden announced its candidacy for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), at the same time as Finland, which became the thirty-first member of the organization in April.