On Wednesday, Hungary's reputation as a troublemaker in Europe will once again be confirmed: its parliament will discuss the ratification of Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO, writes POLITICO.

Eight months after membership bids were signed at the Madrid summit, Hungary, like Turkey, has still not ratified Finland's and Sweden's bids to join the transatlantic defense alliance..

Turkey blocks Nordic entry over Stockholm allegedly hiding Kurdish militants. The government of Viktor Orban repeatedly promised to ratify the applications, but kept delaying the decision.

The ratification process in Hungary will finally start on Wednesday. Debate starts in parliament ahead of the vote, which is expected in the second half of March.

But there are already warning signs..

Mate Kocsis, head of Orban's nationalist Fidesz faction in parliament, said last week there was a " Now Hungary plans to send a delegation to Sweden and Finland to study the emerging "

Orban himself, who has an iron grip on his Fidesz party, said that while Hungary supports Sweden and Finland joining NATO in principle, “serious discussions need to be held first.”.

He pointed to Finland and Sweden's earlier criticism of Hungary's rule of law situation, arguing that some in his party question the wisdom of agreeing to join countries "

“How can anyone want to be our ally in the military system if they shamelessly spread lies about Hungary? ”, - they say in Fidesz.

Orban's comments confirmed Brussels fears that the Hungarian leader might try to use his influence on NATO expansion to force concessions on rule of law issues..

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Finland and Sweden have been some of Hungary's biggest critics in the EU over rule of law issues in the country, and Budapest still clashes with the European Union over disbursements over Brussels' protests against its democratic standards..

Earlier this month, European Commission Vice President Vera Yourova said that if Hungary wants to receive 5.8 billion euros in grants from the EU fund for recovery from COVID-19, it must quickly resolve the issue of the independence of its judiciary..

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg visited Helsinki on Monday. The main issue on the agenda was Finland's desire to join the Alliance. He called on Turkey and Hungary to confirm membership applications as soon as possible..

When asked if he had contacted Hungary on this issue, he replied that the decision should be made by sovereign national parliaments..

" Finland meets all the criteria, as does Sweden. So we are working hard and our goal is to have this introduced as quickly as possible,” he added..