Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (green) commented on Sweden’s NATO process in Stockholm on Thursday.
Vilma Romsi,
Pirjo Auvinen
Foreign minister Pekka Haaviston (green) it is still possible that Sweden will become a NATO member by the NATO summit in Vilnius. The summit will be held on the 11th–12th. July.
According to Haavisto, Sweden’s NATO process could be prolonged if Turkey does not ratify its NATO membership by the time of the meeting.
– Momentum may be lost, which was built for that summit in Vilnius. Everyone is working to ensure that maximum pressure is applied by that moment so that Sweden becomes a member of NATO, Haavisto tells .
Haavisto participated in the Road to Vilnius seminar organized by the Atlantic Council, Germany, Lithuania and Portugal in Stockholm as one of the main speakers. The seminar discussed, among other things, the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden.
Haavisto said at a press conference after the seminar that Sweden has done everything possible to meet Turkey’s conditions for ratifying NATO membership. Its new terrorism legislation comes into force on 1 July. According to Haavisto, NATO member countries have also done everything to promote Sweden’s NATO process.
The foreign minister says that much now depends on the Turkish presidential election, which will be held on Sunday.
– We still don’t know about the internal situation in Turkey after the elections, whether there will be turbulence or slowdowns.
– I hope that there will be a situation in Turkey where a solution can be reached before the meeting in Vilnius.
Russia brings a wild situation to the Arctic region
Haavisto also commented on the future of the Arctic Council. The presidency of the Council passed from Russia to Norway on Thursday. The Council’s activities have practically been frozen since Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Haavisto, the Arctic Council plays an important role both in environmental and climate issues and in protecting indigenous peoples in the Arctic region.
– If the countries of the Arctic region are unable to cooperate in the future, it will bring a wild situation to the Arctic region, where the opportunities for countries outside the region to act perhaps without caring about environmental issues will increase, says Haavisto.
The member countries of the Arctic Council are the Nordic countries, Russia, the United States and Canada.
Development aid to Ukraine to be continued
In addition, the foreign minister took a stand on development aid, which was disputed in the Finnish government negotiations. In particular, Perussuomalaiset wants to cut development aid quickly, even if the party’s chairman Riikka Purran according to which development aid could be directed from other destinations to Ukraine.
Haavisto says that he considers it important that support for Ukraine is continued and even strengthened. He points out that there is from Ukraine Sanna Marini (sd.) has already become the largest recipient of Finnish development aid during his reign.
Haavisto also took a stand on whether Finland should end development cooperation with countries that have not condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He says that development aid also includes aid that is given directly to those in need, bypassing the governments of the countries, through the UN or international aid organizations.
– Then one can always ask whether the sanctions are aimed correctly, if they are aimed at the world’s poorest people, who are perhaps people acting against governments.