Tag : rule-of-law

Budapest/Stockholm: Hungary said on Friday it had signed a deal to buy four Saab JAS Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, as Budapest finally prepared to approve Stockholm's bid to join NATO after nearly two years of delays. Hungary was the last member of the transatlantic military alliance holding out against Sweden's historic application to join, which it made in 2022 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban - who relented last week saying parliament would vote on the ratification on Monday - met Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and said he had managed to "rebuild trust". Hungary will buy the jets and expand a related logistics contract, Orban said. Hungary currently leases Gripen aircraft under a contract signed in 2001. "We not only keep our air defence capability but will increase it ... which means our commitment to NATO will strengthen and so will our participation in NATO's joint operations," Orban told a joint press conference with Kristersson. Kristersson said he welcomed the deal. "As you know and I know we do not agree on everything but we agree that we should cooperate where possible," he said, standing next to Orban. Orban, whose nationalist government has kept close economic ties with Russia, had repeatedly delayed the ratification, citing grievances over Sweden criticising Hungary over its record on rule-of-law. Sweden's NATO application - a major shift away from its decades of non-alignment - was also initially held up by Turkey, who accused Stockholm of supporting what it called terrorist groups. When Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan signalled in July that he would give Sweden the green light, the U.S. said it would move ahead with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets ...