President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today ahead of the NATO summit to be held in Madrid from 29-30 June.
According to the White House statement, the leaders discussed the effects of the invasion of Ukraine on Transatlantic security and the importance of strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence, stressing the need for NATO to have adequate resources to tackle a range of problems from cyber threats to the climate problem.
In the statement, it was stated that the leaders expressed their satisfaction with Finland and Sweden’s application for NATO membership, and it was stated that President Biden offered his support to Stoltenberg’s efforts to speed up the accession process by addressing the security concerns of all Allies.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also met with Stoltenberg separately from Biden and Harris.
On the other hand, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg stated that the alliance is in contact with Turkey to resolve Ankara’s concerns about Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership by consensus.
Finland and Sweden yesterday noted that they were in dialogue with Turkey on their NATO membership, but did not make a statement about whether there was any progress on Ankara’s objection. The application for NATO membership must be unanimously accepted by the 30 members of the alliance.