According to Foreign Minister Haavisto, the amendment to the terrorism law can accelerate the acceptance of Sweden’s NATO membership in Turkey.
Terhi Toivonen,
Fire flower de Fresnes
In Finland, we are optimistic about the realization of Sweden’s NATO membership by the time of the Vilnius summit.
Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green) believes that Sweden’s membership will progress now that the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been selected for the new season.
Haavisto says that he had a conversation with the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström with the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting to be held in Norway at the end of the week.
– Of course, we hope for clear signs from the direction of Turkey and Hungary, that their ratification would go ahead. Finland and Sweden are also preparing to hold a tripartite meeting with Turkey if necessary, which has not been held before the Turkish elections. This is how we would prepare before Vilnius.
In Haavisto’s opinion, the amendment to the Swedish terrorism law, which will enter into force in June, can accelerate the progress of Sweden’s membership even before the NATO meeting on July 11 and 12.
– Surely that will also lighten the mood in Turkey a bit.
Haavisto has also not observed any new openings or demands regarding Sweden’s NATO membership in the Turkish elections.
Also the former chairman of the Finnish delegation to the NATO Parliamentary General Assembly Elina Valtonen (co.) hopes that Sweden will become a NATO member by the time of the summit.
– Now that the elections have taken place, our first goal is to also get the neighboring country Sweden a member of NATO. That is our number one goal. There is not much time, but if we can somehow contribute to Turkey being able to make a decision about Sweden.
According to Valtonen, all possibilities for Sweden’s membership exist.
– Let’s hope that Erdoğan will promote the issue with his election victory. We have had tripartite agreements and negotiations since last year’s Madrid summit. All parties have complied with that agreement, so I don’t think there is anything standing in the way of Sweden’s membership anymore, Valtonen emphasizes.
You can discuss the topic until Tuesday at 11 p.m.