Budapest, 27 March 2023 (dpa/MIA) - After several postponements, the Hungarian parliament has ratified the NATO accession protocol for Finland with an overwhelming majority.

On Monday, 182 members of parliament voted in favour and only six against. There were no abstentions.

Besides Turkey, Hungary is the last of 30 NATO members to ratify Finland's accession to the western military alliance. Turkey has announced its intention to vote on it soon.

Sweden's accession has been debated in the Bupadest parliament, but the vote on it has not yet been put on the agenda.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seems to be coordinating closely with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. So far, Erdoğan has only agreed to Finland joining NATO, but not to Sweden.

Orbán, who makes all major decisions in the country himself, had repeatedly spoken out in favour of admitting the two Nordic countries to NATO. At the same time, however, he repeatedly postponed the debate and vote on ratification under various pretexts.

Among other things, he complained that Swedish and Finnish politicians and media unjustly criticized Hungary for corruption and deficiencies in the rule of law.

Against the backdrop of the Russian war in Ukraine, the Nordic countries applied for membership in NATO.

The two countries had long hoped to join NATO at the same time. But because Turkey has so far voiced opposition to Sweden's accession, Finland could go ahead alone.

Turkey accuses Sweden of lacking commitment to act against "terrorist organizations." Ankara's main concern is the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.