by Krisztina Than and Johan Ahlander
BUDAPEST/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Hungary announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement to purchase four Saab JAS Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, as Budapest prepares to ratify Stockholm’s NATO candidacy after nearly two years of delays.
Hungary was the last member of the Atlantic Alliance to oppose Sweden’s application for membership, filed in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who last week agreed to a Monday parliamentary vote on ratification, met his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson and said he had managed to “restore trust.”
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Hungary will buy the planes and extend a related logistics contract, Viktor Orban said. The country currently leases Gripen aircraft under a contract signed in 2001.
“This means that our commitment to NATO will strengthen and our participation in joint NATO operations will also grow,” Viktor Orban said at a joint press conference with Ulf Kristersson.
“We don’t agree on everything, but we agree to cooperate wherever possible,” the Swedish prime minister said.
Viktor Orban, whose nationalist government has close economic ties with Russia, had repeatedly delayed ratification, citing Sweden’s criticism of Hungary’s rule of law record.
Sweden’s application for NATO membership, which marks a turning point after decades of the country’s non-alignment, was initially blocked by Turkey, which accused Stockholm of supporting groups it describes as terrorists.
Following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s green light to Sweden in July, the United States said it wanted to proceed with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress.
Sweden, with its long coastline on the Baltic Sea, could become a vital logistics hub for NATO in northern Europe.
(Report by Krisztina Than; French version by Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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