On Monday morning, the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, László Kövér, signaled that further delays in the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership may come. This after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came up with yet another statement directed at Sweden regarding the NATO process this weekend.
Now Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says that he still expects Sweden to become a NATO member when the Turkish parliament opens this fall.
– We made an agreement regarding NATO membership in Vilnius and I feel very confident that that agreement applies, he says when SVT Nyheter interviews him in New York.
The Prime Minister and several other ministers are there to participate in the opening of the UN General Assembly. In connection with that, Kristersson believes that he will have the opportunity to speak with Erdogan.
– We sit close to each other in the hall. But this morning he wasn’t there when I was there.
“The negotiation is not over”
SVT’s Turkey correspondent Tomas Thorén does not share the Prime Minister’s view of the situation.
– There are less than two weeks left until the Turkish parliament opens. As far as I understand, the ball on this issue is still in the presidential administration’s court, he says in Current affairs.
He also points to the signals that Erdogan gives that Turkey is not satisfied with how Sweden lives up to its commitments.
– There have also been other overtures where President Erdogan insinuates that he wants to see clearer steps from the United States regarding the sale of the F-16 fighter plane to Turkey.
How to understand these signals?
– The negotiation on Swedish NATO membership is not over. I think that is the signal that Erdogan is sending, says the Turkey correspondent.