@EL, your question "how can Hungary be trusted as a member of NATO and the EU when Orban has direct knowledge of Russian plans?” resonated with me. I found a 2019 article, “Can Turkey be Expelled from NATO? It’s Legally Possible, Whether or Not Politically Prudent,” on an online forum, Just Security, hosted by the New York University School of Law. The author, Aurel Sari, discusses the lack of suspension or expulsion provisions within the NATO charter. Interestingly, the UN Charter, the Statute of the Council of Europe , and the Treaty on EU do have such provisions.
In the draft NATO documents in 1948, Canada proposed a provision that would provide for suspension or expulsion to address the “coming into power of a communist-dominated government.” This was ultimately not included as the other countries resisted, thinking that the common shared values, principles, and resolve of the allies to “unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security” (preamble, North Atlantic Treaty) would suffice.
The only mechanism for removal then relies on the determination whether the member country’s behavior was a material breach under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The author concludes:
"Should the conditions for the existence of a material breach be satisfied, NATO’s member states would be entitled, by unanimous agreement, to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either in their relations with the defaulting state or among them all (Article 60(2) of the Vienna Convention). For these purposes, a unanimous decision of the North Atlantic Council, excluding the defaulting state, would suffice.”
While it has a not been done before, it does sound possible, but not easy, to suspend or expel a country. Would NATO take this route? Sadly, I don’t think they will.
Even after His Holiness Pope Francis visited the Russian Ambassador to the Vatican in an effort to register his concerns and offered to go to Russia to meet Putin, this man of peace has been ignored. The Pope has also spoken to President Zelensky, but it would appear in speaking to the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church it is clear he, in blessing Putin's military machine, has become Putin's altar boy.
@EL, your question "how can Hungary be trusted as a member of NATO and the EU when Orban has direct knowledge of Russian plans?” resonated with me. I found a 2019 article, “Can Turkey be Expelled from NATO? It’s Legally Possible, Whether or Not Politically Prudent,” on an online forum, Just Security, hosted by the New York University School of Law. The author, Aurel Sari, discusses the lack of suspension or expulsion provisions within the NATO charter. Interestingly, the UN Charter, the Statute of the Council of Europe , and the Treaty on EU do have such provisions.
In the draft NATO documents in 1948, Canada proposed a provision that would provide for suspension or expulsion to address the “coming into power of a communist-dominated government.” This was ultimately not included as the other countries resisted, thinking that the common shared values, principles, and resolve of the allies to “unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security” (preamble, North Atlantic Treaty) would suffice.
The only mechanism for removal then relies on the determination whether the member country’s behavior was a material breach under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The author concludes:
"Should the conditions for the existence of a material breach be satisfied, NATO’s member states would be entitled, by unanimous agreement, to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either in their relations with the defaulting state or among them all (Article 60(2) of the Vienna Convention). For these purposes, a unanimous decision of the North Atlantic Council, excluding the defaulting state, would suffice.”
While it has a not been done before, it does sound possible, but not easy, to suspend or expel a country. Would NATO take this route? Sadly, I don’t think they will.
Even after His Holiness Pope Francis visited the Russian Ambassador to the Vatican in an effort to register his concerns and offered to go to Russia to meet Putin, this man of peace has been ignored. The Pope has also spoken to President Zelensky, but it would appear in speaking to the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church it is clear he, in blessing Putin's military machine, has become Putin's altar boy.