Steven N.Hungary is the only European country whose parliament has not yet ratified the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, required for the two new countries to become members, and the Democratic Coalition (DK) wants to know why the government is dragging its heels on the matter.
DK released a statement highlighting an interview by Gáspár Maróth, State Secretary for Defense Policy and Development at the Ministry of National Defense, on Spirit FM. According to the opposition party, Maróth said NATO would stretch from Turkey to Finland once the two countries join the alliance, and “the Russian side cannot counterbalance this militarily.”
Ágnes Vadai, writing as DK’s “Shadow Minister of National Defense” in its Shadow Government, comments that it is not in Russian President Vladimir Putin interest to expand NATO, but a NATO member country should not be considering this situation from Putin’s point of view.
The Shadow Government expects the government to answer this question: is it really impeding Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO because this cannot be counterbalanced militarily by Russia?
In any case, what did they expect regarding the expansion of NATO? That NATO would get weaker and Russia get stronger? According to the Shadow Government, it is incomprehensible why Fidesz’s Secretary of State for National Defense talks about the Russian position weakening, when this is precisely the purpose of expanding NATO. According to the Shadow Government, it is in the national security interest of our country and Europe for NATO to be as strong as possible. The government is therefore committing a historical crime and serving Russian interests by deliberately impeding Finland and Sweden from joining NATO.
-writes Ágnes Vadai.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister submitted proposals to the Hungarian Parliament on Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO on July 14. [Magyar Narancs]
Weakening Russian influence in the Baltic/Arctic does never depended on Finnish and Swedish individual membership of NATO. Nordic and Allied cooperation in the region is older than NATO. But if Hungary imagines it could play a role as a Russian protector in North European waters, it’s their private problem.
What DK really asks is: What is the value of Orbán-Hungary’s NATO membership?
Is it really enough to guarantee Hungary’s safety, while helping the enemy?
Sadly, this regime is full of grand illusions regarding not only NATO, but the EU and Hungary’s real status in the world. Instead of bringing Hungary into the modern world as a modest, but developed nation, this regime draws inspiration from the past. Most readers know what similar illusions led to in WW II.