Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says he has not yet given up hope that Sweden will be admitted to NATO ahead of the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, despite Hungary’s postponement of the ratification of the Nordic country’s accession.
“I am not closing the Swedish issue for good. As long as there are days left, hope is alive,” Nausėda told reporters in Brussels on Thursday.
Vilnius has also called on Budapest to “clearly understand” the security implications of its decision to postpone ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership.
“Hungary must clearly understand the consequences of the decision for the security of the entire NATO alliance, but especially for the Baltic region,” Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in a comment to BNS on Thursday.
Hungary’s parliament on Wednesday put off its vote on Sweden’s NATO accession until the autumn session, which most probably means that the Nordic nation will not join NATO ahead of the alliance’s summit in Vilnius in mid-July.
The reasons for Hungary’s decision are not entirely clear, but it is allegedly linked to Swedish politicians’ criticism of Hungary over the state of democracy in the country.
“We expect that Hungary will very clearly state the reasons and motives for this decision,” Landsbergis said. “Unfortunately, we have not yet heard a clear position from Hungary on why the ratification of Sweden’s accession protocol is being delayed.”
“Lithuania’s position is clear and unchanging: we look forward to welcoming Sweden to the NATO table at the Vilnius summit,” he added.
According to him, Stockholm’s NATO membership would be “the first parameter of success” for the Vilnius summit.
In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland abandoned their decades-long policy of military neutrality and applied to join NATO.
Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have not yet ratified Sweden’s accession. Finland joined NATO in April.
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