Viktor Orban
The Hungarian parliament did approve Sweden’s application to join the North Atlantic Alliance. It happened on February 26, the first day of the spring session. The servants of the people were positive: out of 196 deputies, an overwhelming majority (188) gave the green light. Only six opposed, four abstained.
Stockholm has been waiting for this bright day since May 2022, when together with Helsinki it applied for accession. By the end of April last year, Finland had officially joined the alliance, and the Swedish dream was on hold. Two barriers remained — Turkish and Hungarian. The former fell on January 23. For this, Erdogan got the go-ahead from the United States for the delivery of 40 fourth-generation F-16 fighters of the most modern Block 70/72 version and 79 modernization kits for the existing fleet of this model. Not for free, of course, but for the money ($23 billion) that was previously transferred overseas. But in October 2021, the Yankees blocked the deal because Ankara bought Russian C-400 Triumf air defense systems.
Perhaps, no one had any doubts that Viktor Orban would hesitate. One wondered what he would ask for it?
The plot at the final stage developed as follows. The White House, the Pentagon, and Brussels (both NATO and EU) put unprecedented pressure on the Hungarian prime minister. They demanded that parliamentarians return from vacation and hold an emergency session. At first, he acted arrogantly with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and her team. Orban reminded that Eurobureaucrats criticize him for allegedly taking over the legislature. But he is not such a person. Let the deputies themselves decide when to hold a vote. As a result, an unscheduled gathering of servants of the people was announced on February 5, but representatives of the ruling Fidesz party did not attend the meeting. Boycott! They demanded that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson make amends to Stockholm with his visit to Budapest. It’s about a scandalous video that was shown in schools there: the 10-minute clip says that since 2010, when the Fidesz party came to power, democracy in Hungary has «gradually ceased to exist».
Incidentally, Orban also urged Kristersson to visit. However, the proud descendant of Vikings replied that it was more convenient for him to negotiate on NATO issues at the Brussels headquarters of the alliance. However, last Friday (February 23), on the eve of the vote, he finally arrived in the Hungarian capital.
Now for the profits. At a joint press conference, a pleased Orban announced that he had agreed with his colleague on the purchase of four brand-new Swedish Jas 39 Gripen fighter jets. In addition, the two sides extended an agreement (presumably on more favorable terms!) on maintenance and logistics services for the 14 Gripen aircraft that Hungary has been leasing since 2006.
This is certainly not Turkey’s 40 F-16s, but it is worth something….
As for Sweden, it was a matter of little else. In a few days in Brussels, at the NATO headquarters, the accession ceremony of the 32nd ally will take place. The final documents will be signed and the flag of the new member of the bloc will be raised. Then the papers with the «wet» signature will be handed over to the United States for safekeeping. Finish!
It’s not for me to judge whether Orban is doing a good or bad job of getting concessions for his country with his constant demarches. In any case, the «enfant terrible» is a bone in the throat of the European bureaucrats. Lately they find it hard to control him. They’ve been playing tricks on him. They make him leave the hall of the EU summit before the vote on the beginning of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on accession to the EU. Four (!) times they send a woman — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — for a tête-à-tête talk, who, with the help of her charms, persuades the Magyar to lift his veto on the allocation of macro-financial aid to Ukraine.
But Orban with enviable persistence continues to bend his line, which, as we see, brings certain dividends.
Just a couple of days ago, the Hungarian leader blocked the signing of a joint statement of the EU countries, timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the beginning of the Special military operation, which made it impossible to publish this document condemning Russia on behalf of all 27 EU members. It was made public under the signatures of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. Note that all of these figures have a sharply declining level of legitimacy at the moment. Michel announced that he is leaving his post early, von der Leyen still has to fight for re-election as head of the European government, and Metsola is unlikely to retain her position after the elections to the European legislature in early June.
Orban, on the other hand, will take the chair of the European Council for six months from July 1. Quite legitimately: by rotation this honorable duty will go to Hungary. What else can the stubborn Magyar do? Brussels is terrified.