BUDAPEST, March 1. /TASS/. The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will entail serious consequences that must be taken into account, Hungarian President Katalin Novak said on Wednesday, as discussions in the country's parliament began on the ratification of protocols on the admission of the two countries to the North Atlantic Alliance.
"My position is clear-cut: in the present situation, the accession of Sweden and Finland is justified," Novak wrote on her Twitter page.
At the same time, she noted, some people think that this is a technical issue that can be easily solved, but this is not so. Novak said the legislators were to make a "complex decision, with serious consequences, so careful consideration is necessary." She expressed confidence that the Hungarian parliament would make "a wise decision as soon as possible."
Earlier, the Prime Minister Viktor Orban-led government also stated that it supported the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO. The bill on the ratification of the protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on their accession was submitted to parliament by Foreign Minister Peter Szijjrto.
At the same time, some legislators representing parties affiliated with the ruling coalition expressed concern that in recent years Finnish and Swedish politicians had taken the liberty of making unfriendly and unfounded statements about the state of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary, and now they were "asking for a favor", intending to join the alliance. The Hungarian parliament decided to send a delegation to Helsinki and Stockholm to clarify these issues.
Nevertheless, the Hungarian deputies said that this would not affect the procedure of considering the two Nordic countries’ applications. Discussions in the Hungarian parliament were to begin on Wednesday. A vote on the approval of the admission protocols may take place after March 6 within four weeks.
Finland and Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance on May 18 last year, saying that events in Ukraine prompted them to do so. Hungary and Turkey are the two of NATO’s 30 countries that have not ratified the protocols yet.