Hungary Makes New NATO Demands On Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson

Hungary and Turkey continue to come up with new proposals that threaten to delay Sweden’s NATO membership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke negatively again last weekend about Sweden’s NATO application. His criticism was that Sweden is not fulfilling its commitments in the agreement reached earlier this year.

Among other things, he said: ‘They turn a blind eye to terrorist activities on the streets of Stockholm. And of course that cannot be tolerated’.

According to SR Ekot, a high-ranking Hungarian government official told Radio Free Europe that the administration in Budapest expected either Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson or Foreign Minister Tobias Billström to visit Hungary for talks before a vote on Sweden’s NATO application takes place.

The PM seemed confident

However, Ulf Kristersson was taking it easy on the new overtures from the two countries that have stood in the way of Swedish membership so far.

‘We made an agreement regarding NATO membership in Vilnius and I feel very confident that that agreement applies’, he told SVT when interviewed in New York on Monday, September 18.

He was in the US city with several other Swedish ministers to participate in the opening of the UN General Assembly. Kristersson said he hoped that he would have the opportunity to speak personally with Erdogan. ‘We sit close to each other in the hall. But this morning he wasn’t there when I was there’, he pointed out.

Thank you UNSG @antonioguterres for a good discussion on supporting Ukraine and making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe pic.twitter.com/ewTFE3Wtu4

— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) September 17, 2023

Clips from UR spread in Hungary

This latest Hungarian development comes after an old video clip from the UR-Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement – which supports the University of Rwanda – was widely circulated in the country last week. Democracy in Hungary was called into question in the clip.

In a letter of protest to Billström, the Hungarian government warned that it could have consequences for Sweden’s entry into the alliance.

‘I suppose you understand the contradiction in that you call on our parliamentarians to ratify your entry into NATO, while at the same time you continue to accuse them of dismantling Hungarian democracy’, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote.

‼️If it’s about Sweden’s accession to @NATO, this letter speaks for itself @TobiasBillstrom pic.twitter.com/xqr8CyF2SR

— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) September 14, 2023