Hungarian president signs law ratifying Swedish NATO membership
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Hungary's new president, Tamás Sulyok, signed a law ratifying Swedish membership of NATO on Tuesday.
The signing of the bill passed by the Hungarian parliament on February 26 concludes the ratification process for Sweden, as Hungary was the last country to ratify.
NATO rules require all NATO members to formally notify the United States government that they've ratified Sweden's accession protocols. The secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, will then formally invite Sweden to join the alliance.
Sweden will officially become a member of NATO after it has handed its accession papers to the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.
Stockholm applied to become a member of NATO in May 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary was the final NATO country to ratify Swedish membership, even though Budapest had promised allies that it would not be the last.
Tuesday was Hungarian President Sulyok's first day in office. Signing the bill was his first decision as president, government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Hungarian parliament elected Sulyok on February 26, the same day it passed the bill ratifying Sweden's accession to NATO.
The previous president, Katalin Novák, was forced to resign after pardoning a man convicted of helping to cover up sexual abuse in an orphanage.
