Hungary Parliament Approves Sweden’s NATO Bid

Hungary’s Parliament Approved Sweden’s NATO Accession On Monday, Clearing The Last Hurdle Before The Historic Step By The Nordic Country Whose Neutrality Lasted Through Two World Wars And The Simmering...

Zaheer Hussain
February 27, 2024
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Hungary’s Parliament Approved Sweden’s NATO Accession On Monday, Clearing The Last Hurdle Before The Historic Step By The Nordic Country Whose Neutrality Lasted Through Two World Wars And The Simmering Conflict Of The Cold War.

Hungary Parliament Approves Sweden’s NATO Bid

Why In The News?

Hungary’s Parliament Approved Sweden’s NATO Accession On Monday, Clearing The Last Hurdle Before The Historic Step By The Nordic Country Whose Neutrality Lasted Through Two World Wars And The Simmering Conflict Of The Cold War.
Hungary’s Vote Ended Months Of Delays In Completing Sweden’s Security Policy Shift And Followed A Visit By Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson On Friday During Which The Two Countries Signed An Arms Deal.

What Do We Know?

Sweden’s NATO Membership Was Supported By 188 Lawmakers In The Hungarian Parliament, With 6 Against And No Abstentions. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Government Has Faced Pressure From NATO Allies To Fall In Line And Seal Sweden’s Accession To The Alliance.
Sweden Became The 32^nd Member Of NATO Alliance & Abandoned Its Non-Alignment Policy For Greater Safety Within The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation In The Wake Of Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine In 2022.

With Sweden Following Finland Into NATO, President Vladimir Putin Has Effectively Achieved The Very Thing He Sought To Avert When He Launched His War In Ukraine An Expansion Of The Alliance, Western Leaders Have Said.
While Finland Became A NATO Member Last Year, Sweden Was Kept Waiting As Turkey And Hungary, Which Both Maintain Better Relations With Russia Than Other Members Of The Us-led Alliance, Raised Objections.

What Does Sweden Bring To NATO?

For A Long Time, Swedish Policy Dictated That The Country Needed A Strong Military To Protect Its Neutrality. But After The End Of The Cold War, It Drastically Slashed Its Defence Spending, Turning Its Military Focus Toward Peacekeeping Operations Around The World.
In 1990, Defence Spending Accounted For 2.6 Percent Of Gross Domestic Product, Shrinking To 1.2 Percent By 2020, According To The Government. Spending Started To Increase Again Following Russia’s 2014 Annexation Of Crimea.

In March 2022, After Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine, Sweden Announced It Would Increase Spending Again, Targeting Two Percent Of GDP “As Soon As Possible”. In Late 2023, Sweden’s Government Said Military Spending Would Exceed The Two Percent Goal In 2024.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson Also Said In January That His Country Was Ready To Contribute Troops To NATO’s Forces In Latvia. Sweden And Finland Joining NATO Also Means That The Baltic Sea Becomes Surrounded By Alliance Members, With Some Analysts Dubbing It A NATO Lake.

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Zaheer Hussain

Senior Lecturer General Studies, SSBCrackExams, Passionate Teacher, Masters in Public Administration, Expertise in Polity, History and Current Affairs. Loves Food and traveling Solo.