Hungary parliament backs Finland's NATO accession

The Hungarian parliament approved a bill on Monday (March 27) to allow Finland to join The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) once its application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance. The approval ends months of foot-dragging by the ruling Fidesz party on the matter.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin tweeted after the vote, she said: "Thank you for the decision with clear numbers!"

With 182 votes versus six against, a large majority of lawmakers approved the accession of the Nordic country into the military alliance.

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The vote means that 29 out of 30 NATO member state parliaments have ratified Finland's accession. The last will be Turkey's assembly, which is expected to also give Helsinki the nod next month.

Initially, Finland aimed to join together with fellow NATO aspirant Sweden, a Nordic power facing a litany of disputes with Turkey that ultimately sunk its chance to join the bloc before an alliance summit in Vilnius in July.

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"The NATO membership of Finland and Sweden will strengthen the security of the whole Alliance. It is in everyone's interest that Sweden also becomes a member of NATO before the Vilnius Summit," said Marin.

Earlier this month, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that Turkey had decided on ratifying Helsinki's NATO bid. The claim came after reports emerged that Ankara's parliament will "highly likely" ratify Finland's NATO accession bid before mid-April.

After Russia began the invasion of Ukraine last year in February, Sweden and Finland applied to join the trans-Atlantic defence pact. However, both nations faced unexpected hurdles. To join NATO, all 30 members have to ratify any membership bids.

(With inputs from agencies)

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