Assuming he does, Hungary will be the last remaining stronghold. Officials there have previously indicated that they will not ultimately stand in the way. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced, somewhat ambiguously, that he had invited the Swedish prime minister to visit to “negotiate Sweden’s accession to NATO.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson seemed to respond Just for the Turkish vote, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Today we are one step away from becoming a full member of NATO.”
The vote was by 287 votes to 55, with four members abstaining from voting.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the outcome, adding: “I am also counting on Hungary to complete its national ratification as soon as possible. All NATO Allies in Vilnius agreed to invite Sweden to join our Alliance, and Sweden has fulfilled its commitments.”
If Turkey and Hungary join, the alliance could formally welcome a 32nd member, potentially concluding the deal before the 75th anniversary this spring.
Sweden's accession to NATO would constitute a historic shift for a country that has long maintained a policy of military non-alignment. This would strengthen NATO's air and naval capabilities, and improve the alliance's position in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic.
In his thanks to the Turkish Parliament for its vote, the US Ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, said: books“Sweden’s accession to NATO is a decisive step in strengthening the alliance, which today is more important than ever.”
It would also remove one source of Western division of the kind that Russian President Vladimir Putin relishes.
Russia illegally annexed it in March 2014
NATO countries not shown:
Portugal, Iceland, the United States and Canada
Russia illegally annexed it in March 2014
NATO countries not shown:
Portugal, Iceland, the United States and Canada
NATO countries not shown:
Iceland, the United States and Canada
Russia illegally annexed it in March 2014
After Putin sent tanks into Ukraine and shook Europeans' sense of security, the ruling parties in Sweden and neighboring Finland supported joining NATO, concluding that they would be safer within the alliance, even if joining would further anger Russia.
The two Nordic countries submitted coordinated bids. But each of NATO's 30 member states had to agree, and Erdogan quickly emerged in Turkey as the main obstacle, using the process to secure concessions and score domestic political points.
Even after Finland was allowed to join, Erdogan continued to object to Sweden, demanding that the country make more efforts to suppress groups that Turkey considers terrorist entities, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the movement accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government. government in 2016. Erdogan convinced Stockholm to agree to continued cooperation in the fight against terrorism, as well as lifting the arms embargo on Turkey.
But analysts estimate that Turkey's main goal is to secure a deal to purchase F-16 fighter jets from the United States, in addition to modernizing its existing fleet. In July, after Erdogan publicly dropped his opposition to Sweden's NATO membership, the Biden administration said it intended to move forward with transferring F-16s to Turkey.
The deal has faced resistance from senior members of Congress — although one of the strongest opponents, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), is no longer chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His replacement, Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), did not express his position on the sale. While some senior lawmakers said Sweden's vote would pave the way for the F-16s, others insisted there were broader problems with Turkey, including human rights abuses and ongoing Turkish attacks on the U.S.'s Kurdish allies in Syria.
“For most of President Erdogan’s time in office, Turkey has been a disloyal NATO ally — so this is welcome news,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). However, I still have questions about Erdogan's ongoing attacks against our Syrian Kurdish allies, his aggressive actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the role he played in supporting Azerbaijani military attacks against Nagorno-Karabakh. We need more answers and confirmations on these concerns from both Turkey and the Biden administration before Congress moves forward with the F-16 sale.
President Biden held a phone call with Erdogan on December 14, in which they discussed Sweden's request and “further strengthening Turkey's interoperability in NATO,” among other topics, according to a White House summary.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also discussed Sweden's NATO membership in a meeting with Erdogan this month.
To move forward on the F-16s, the administration will need to submit formal notification to Congress, after which lawmakers will have 30 days to file objections. Or the administration could bypass the process by declaring a “state of emergency” requiring immediate shipment, as it has done twice recently for Israel.
Hungary may also try to extract concessions. Like Erdogan, Orban maintains ties with Putin. The Hungarian leader regularly acts as a spoiler for multinational agreements that work against Moscow's interests, including EU sanctions on Russia and aid to Ukraine.
Orban says he objects to Swedish criticism that democracy in Hungary has eroded under his rule. But he said the same thing about Finland, then quickly dropped his opposition to that country joining NATO when Turkey did so.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 reshaped Europe's security landscape, driving increased defense spending from countries that had been steadily reducing their militaries since the end of the Cold War, and revitalizing NATO after years of questions about the alliance's relevance.
Sweden has not previously shown interest in becoming a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and adopted a position of neutrality and non-alignment in the early 19th century, formally remaining on the sidelines during major conflicts, including the World Wars.
But while this position remained central to the country's self-concept, Sweden gradually worked to strengthen its relations with NATO. It joined the NATO Partnership for Peace in 1994, became an “Enhanced Opportunities Partner” in 2014 – following Russia’s annexation of Crimea – and signed the Host Nation Agreement in 2016. Sweden has contributed to NATO-led missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kosovo. . Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. As a member of the European Union since 1995, it is also bound by the common defense clause, which obliges it to provide assistance if any EU member is attacked.
De Vinck and Ruhala reported from Brussels and De Jong reported from Washington.
