Relations between Hungary and Sweden need to improve before the Nordic country’s NATO candidacy is approved, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the Qatar Economic Forum this Tuesday (23).
Sweden and Finland applied to join the military alliance last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Sweden’s request has been withheld by Turkey and Hungary, with Budapest citing complaints about Sweden’s criticism of Orbán’s record on democracy and the rule of law.
“The political relations between Hungary and Sweden are terribly wrong,” he said. “We don’t want to import conflicts into NATO.”
There is still no date for the Hungarian parliament to vote on the Swedish candidacy for admission, which needs to be ratified by all 30 existing members. NATO will hold a summit in July.
Orbán began this week a visit to Qatar, with which his government began negotiations last year for the purchase of liquefied natural gas. Orbán said on Tuesday that “negotiations are still ongoing”.
There is also a show of interest from Qatar at the Budapest airport, Orbán told the forum, adding that “we would welcome them.”
(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori and Krisztina Than)
Source: CNN Brasil
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