Editorial | Hungary will ratify when it receives money

Editorial|Editorial

Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership is only two ratifications away. The citizens would also be more than ready for NATO. Support for membership has not waned since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, but rather has strengthened even more.

Business delegation Eva’s recent survey according to 78 percent of Finns have a positive attitude towards NATO membership, and 83 percent estimate that it is safer in NATO than outside it. More than half of Finns have a very positive attitude towards NATO membership, and only eight percent have a negative attitude.

In other NATO countries, a clear 73 percent majority of citizens support Finland and Sweden joining NATO. According to the Transatlantic Trends survey by the German Marshall Fund think tank, the Portuguese, Poles and Lithuanians have the warmest relationship with Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

In authoritarian countries, the relationship between leaders and public opinion is more complicated than in democracies. Only one in three Turks support Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership, and the majority oppose the new members. Whether this is due to the position of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or vice versa, it is difficult to say. Erdoğan’s messages to Finland and Sweden are also contradictory.

Next Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen (center), who has been invited to Turkey, evaluates Erdoğan’s position from a close distance. Sweden’s leadership bowed before Erdoğan, but Kanki-Kaikkonen can hardly do the same.

The outlook for what will decide Turkey’s decision and when is unclear. Hungary’s game is more clear.

For Hungary, Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO ratifications are part of the pattern by which Hungary is pressuring the EU Commission for billions of recovery package and structural funds frozen from Hungary. Hungary is also blackmailing EU countries by opposing the 18 billion euro aid package for Ukraine and fighting against Russian sanctions.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s tactics are working. Finland is now watching Hungary’s activities at the EU tables with closed eyes. The voice does not get louder, even though Europe Minister Tytti Tuppurainen (sd) has often had a lot to say in the past about how Orbán’s Hungary violates the EU rule of law criteria and concentrates power on the Fidesz party.

Hungary’s actions are intolerable, but still tolerated so that Orbán does not fall completely into the pocket of President Vladimir Putin. There’s already a hand.

On Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó visited Russia at the Atomexpo nuclear energy forum in Sochi. Szijjártó gave a speech and met the management of Rosatom. Russia is building two new reactors at the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary.

The nerves of countries other than Finland and Sweden are on edge with Orbán. Orbán bullies his neighbors, for example, by wearing a scarf referring to Greater Hungary in a football match, where Hungary’s territory includes parts of Austria, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia.

The Hungarian and Turkish games are boring. The difference is that Hungary belongs to the featherweights in world politics. Hungary is still able to undermine the unity and credibility of the EU.

Hungary will probably ratify the NATO memberships of Finland and Sweden as soon as Hungary receives money from the EU. Hungary and the EU Commission are expected to agree very soon that Hungary would receive at least part of the frozen amount of approximately 7.5 billion euros.

Finland is a valuable member of the EU and NATO because it is a rule of law and a strong democracy. It is contradictory that this model country now has to join NATO in order to stretch and trample on these very same values. The leaders of Hungary and Turkey will surely enjoy it.

The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.