By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL-As Sweden waits for Turkiye and Hungary to approve its NATO bid, the Nordic nation increased its defense budget to 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP). This is part of Sweden’s plan to meet the goal set by NATO that its members should step up their defense budgets by at least 2%. The increase slated for 2024, was announced by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson on Monday and reported by Sweden’s TT news agency. Jonson said that Sweden’s defense budget will increase by around $2.36 billion with close to $63 million earmarked for defense alliance administrative fees. He commented that the increase is on the presumption that Sweden “will become a part of the NATO alliance.”
In July, at the NATO Summit in Lithuania, Turkiye’s President Erdogan was urged to get approve Sweden’s bid into NATO. Erdogan gave his commitment at the summit, commenting that when the Turkish parliament reconvenes in October, he will put the bid to a vote. Meanwhile, in July, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hinted that his country would most likely approve Sweden’s NATO bid. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto added that as long as Turkiye approved the bid, there was no reason for Hungary to oppose it. At the same time, several months ago, Hungarian lawmaker Zsolt Nemeth, the head of Hungarian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee told private broadcaster InfoRadio: “We will take up work in mid-September.” Sweden, a country that has remained neutral for decades, did a rethink on its position after Russia invaded Ukraine. Sweden who had planned to enter NATO at the same time as Finland, was delayed by Erdogan’s insistence that Sweden improve on its dealings with terrorists and terrorist organizations, especially the PKK, YPG and the Gulenist terror group (FETO).
