Hungary and Turkey are the last two roadblocks to NATO membership for Finland and Sweden
In the corridors of power in Stockholm and Helsinki, the champagne is on ice.
After just three months, 28 out of 30 NATO states have ratified the treaty changes in their national parliaments that would approve membership for Finland and Sweden; while 24 nations have already deposited the new paperwork in Washington.
But there are two reasons why Nordic champagne corks aren't popping quite yet: Hungary and Turkey.
In September the Finnish foreign minister said his Hungarian counterpart had promised to proceed with the ratification and assured the Finns there were no objections to Finland or Sweden's accession.
A few weeks earlier at the end of August, Hungary's Minister for Regional Development (and former EU Commissioner) Tibor Navracsics visited Helsinki and told Finnish MPs that his country would ratify their NATO membership application without delay.
"Hungary supports Finland’s NATO membership, but the ratification process in the Hungarian parliament is still under way," a Finnish government press release noted at the time.
This week, however, Viktor Orbán's Fidesz politicians blocked the introduction of a motion in parliament that would have speeded up a vote on the NATO accession process for both Finland and Sweden, in a move that drew sharp criticism from the opposition.
"This is an incomprehensible and unjustified decision," said Bertalan Tóth, the Hungarian MP who tried to introduce the motion.
"Finland and Sweden are committed partners of NATO, have been involved in the Alliance's Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and have played and are playing an active role in past and present NATO-led peace support operations," he added.
The discussion of the accession process is still on the Hungarian parliament
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