While Finland is taking a step towards NATO, uncertainty about Sweden’s membership is increasing, analyzes Swedish television SVT.
Finland has now received the green light from Turkey for its NATO membership. The decision was expected, but it was a setback for Sweden.
This is how to write Swedish television SVT (you switch to another service) in his news analysis.
While Finland is taking a step towards NATO, uncertainty about Sweden’s membership is increasing. It is unclear when Turkey and Hungary will be ready to accept Sweden, says a commentator on domestic politics Mats Knutson.
He lists the risks: Sweden does not receive NATO’s official security guarantees, unlike Finland. It may be difficult for Sweden to maintain close defense cooperation with Finland. Sweden has a greater risk of being the target of Russian influence operations and provocations, and Sweden is in a more vulnerable position than before if a conflict were to start in the Baltic Sea.
All this is not so serious if the situation only lasts for a few weeks or a month, SVT writes.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström previously said he was convinced that Sweden would become a NATO member by the July summit in Vilnius. However, Billström said this week that the process could take longer.
Sweden now has to hope that other countries will increase the pressure during the meeting. It would also be a failure for NATO if Sweden does not become a member by the time of the meeting, says SVT.
“Sweden still needs Finland’s approval”
From the progress of Finland’s NATO path, it follows that Sweden still needs Finland’s approval for its membership.
This is how to write Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheterin (you switch to another service) EU Correspondent Pia Gripenberg.
I think Finland will be faster in its own ratification than Hungary and Turkey, Gripenberg continues. When Finland’s new parliament convenes after the elections, Sweden’s NATO membership will likely be high on the agenda.
Dagens Nyheter says this week’s events show how unilaterally the leaders of Turkey and Hungary act.
Hungary suddenly separated Finland’s and Sweden’s membership applications from each other and accepted Finland’s membership. Just last week, the Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assured Sweden that Hungary would not delay its membership. But that is exactly what Hungary is doing, Dagens Nyheter states.
If Hungary had accepted Sweden, the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would have been left alone with his opposition. Orbán apparently considers the relationship with Erdoğan so important that he doesn’t care that Hungary’s credibility as a loyal NATO member is rapidly deteriorating, the paper writes.