Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he looks forward to meeting his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, at the appropriate time to discuss Sweden's NATO membership.
In a statement published on the government's website, Kristersson thanked Orban for inviting him to Budapest for talks on Sweden's NATO membership.
Stating that he accepted the invitation, Kristersson addressed Orban as follows:
"I look forward to meeting you in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, at the appropriate time. We will also have the opportunity to meet at the European Union (EU) leaders' summit in Brussels on February 1. The ratification of Sweden's NATO membership by the Hungarian Parliament will also help our bilateral relations to develop and become firmly established."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a post on social media platform X on January 23, said, "Today I sent an invitation letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to visit Hungary to negotiate Sweden's accession to NATO."
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, who spoke on the phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg the previous day, stated that the government supports Sweden's membership in NATO.
The visa Sweden was waiting for for its NATO membership application was approved by the Turkish Parliament. The NATO membership process, which has been going on for more than a year, has now come to an end on behalf of Turkey, which had previously been vetoed. The vote for Sweden put not only the opposition and the government at odds in the General Assembly, but also the People's Alliance partners AKP and MHP who voted "Yes" and Yeniden Refah who voted "No". The former partners of the Millet Alliance also split on the green light for Sweden's NATO membership. While the parties in the Turkish parliament were polarized on the issue of "terrorism" for Sweden and security for NATO, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who voted in favor in the General Assembly, said that with the approval of Sweden's accession to NATO, Sweden is one step closer to full membership in the Alliance. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, who thanked the Turkish Grand National Assembly, stated that the approval of President Erdoğan was awaited and pointed to the Trilateral Memorandum signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland at the NATO Madrid Summit in 2022 and said, "These agreements continue. In the future, our fight against terrorism will continue in close cooperation with Turkey." While Germany and the US also expressed their satisfaction with the outcome, all eyes turned to Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that Hungary would act together with Turkey. Having received the visa from Turkey, Sweden is now locked in the only process ahead of it to become a NATO member; the vote in the Hungarian parliament, which will open in February.
