Hungary confirms to ratify Finland´s NATO bid on March 27: FM

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Monday confirmed that his country will ratify NATO membership protocol for Finland on March 27, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a twitter post, quoting Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.

Szijjarto made the assurance to Haavisto during a meeting in Brussels.

“Good meeting with FM Szijjarto in Brussels. He confirmed that Hungary will approve Finland’s NATO bid on 27 March. Thanked him for regular discussions throughout the process,” the ministry wrote in the twitter post, quoting Haavisto as saying.

Earlier on March 17, Hungarian ruling party Fidesz announced that the parliament of the country will vote on Finland´s NATO accession protocol on March 27 and the party will unanimously support in favour of Finland´s membership.

Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO members out of the 30-member alliance, who did not ratify the accession protocol of Finland and Sweden.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said that his country will begin the process of ratifying Finland´s NATO accession protocol.

Hungary has delayed the ratification process several times despite assurance made by it leaders.

In November, 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban assured President Sauli Niinistö that his country will ratify Finland´s NATO accession protocol.

The assurance was made during a telephone conversation between Niinistö and Orban.

Their accession procedure officially started in early July after 30 NATO members, including Turkey signed accession protocols.

So far 28 countries out of total 30 ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden.

The countries ratified the membership protocols are USA, Italy, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, United Kingdom, Albania, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Montenegro, Belgium, North Macedonia, France, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Slovakia.

In late June, the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will support the Finland´s and Sweden´s NATO membership applications.