There is No Urgency to Ratify Sweden's NATO Accession: PM Orban

On Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said there is "no urgency" to ratify Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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Speaking in parliament to open the autumn session, the Hungarian leader said: "There is no urgency from the government to push for support regarding Sweden's NATO accession, and Sweden's security is not under threat."

The issue of Swedish NATO accession has been under discussion for over a year. Within the military alliance, only the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments are yet to approve Sweden's membership.

Divergences between Hungary and Sweden have escalated in recent weeks as a past film resurfaced, shown in Swedish schools, presenting Hungary as a bad example of democracy.

On Thursday, Mate Kocsis, group leader of Orban's Fidesz party, said the chances that the Hungarian Parliament would vote on Sweden in the current autumn session were "low." 

So far, Hungary and Turkey are the only two NATO countries that have not yet ratified Sweden's accession to the Alliance.

In fact, Hungary has been postponing the corresponding vote in Parliament for months and the issue of ratification has appeared and disappeared several times from the agenda of the plenary sessions.