On Monday, the Hungarian Parliament is set to vote on Sweden's accession to NATO.

"In the event that the Hungarian Parliament takes this decision, then the Speaker of the Parliament has to forward that decision to the president for a signature within five days. He in turn has five days to do so. Today we know that the Hungarian Parliament's agenda also includes the processing of the Hungarian President's resignation. There are unlikely to be any problems or delays," security expert Martin Hurt said on ETV how "Terevisioon" on Monday.

If Sweden does join, all the countries around the Baltic Sea will be NATO members. This will allow Sweden to start integrating more closely into the alliance. "This is a process that has no end date. The sooner it can start, the better," Hurt said.

For Estonia, he added, this means that in the event of a potential war, it will be easier to bring troops to the Baltic states. "There has been a lot of talk about the narrowing of the Suwalki Gap. If Sweden is also a member of NATO, then Sweden can be integrated into NATO's defense plans. Then it is clear that the Baltic states can be supported more easily," said Hurt.

As Sweden significantly cut its defense capabilities 10-15 years ago, their defense is still at a developing stage, according to Hurt. "The most important elements in our region are the air force and the navy, which certainly contribute to the defense of the Baltic Sea," Hurt said.

"It's important to remember that from our point of view, Sweden is a Baltic Sea country. From Sweden's point of view, the Baltic Sea is an important element of their security environment. Certainly the Arctic is also very important, and certainly what is west of Sweden. The port of Gothenburg is the biggest port in Sweden – protecting that is definitely important for them," Hurt added.

"I think that if you look at the bigger security picture, we are probably still moving in a negative direction, although it is of course a very good thing that Sweden is joining NATO," Hurt said.

As for why it has taken so long for Hungary to ratify Sweden's membership, Estonia's Honorary Consul in Hungary András Bereczki said that was difficult to answer.

Bereczki said that a meeting held on Friday meeting was aimed at developing defense and security policy cooperation between Hungary and Sweden.

"It's a difficult question to answer because, of course, we don't know all the people behind this. From the very beginning, the Hungarian government stressed that Sweden's accession to NATO would be supported and soon approved. However, the decision has been delayed and delayed. And for a long time, nothing was known for certain. What was always said, was that there was no need to hurry and there was still time," Bereczki said.

"In recent months, the Hungarian government has mentioned that the reasons for the mistrust between the two countries ought to be removed before ratification. In the last ten days, it has been said several times that the restoration of confidence was nearing completion, meaning that there were close negotiations with the Swedes. [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán added that, despite the fact that the countries disagree on a number of issues, these differences must be respected. It was stressed that Hungary is a Christian and family-oriented country, or that the Russian-Ukrainian war must be ended as soon as possible," Bereczki said.

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