Kristersson says that Sweden and Finland contribute to security.
– We have capacity in our part of the world that all NATO countries will benefit from, including Turkey.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Saturday that his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusolgu, has informed him that Finland is now meeting the demands placed on the country in the tripartite agreement concluded between the countries and Sweden at the NATO summit in Madrid last June.
He emphasized, however, that Finland has not been informed whether the fulfillment of the agreement means that Turkey will ratify the country’s NATO application, but if that were the case, Finland would not hesitate to join the defense alliance without Sweden, says Haavisto in an interview with Sweden’s Radio Echo.
– You must understand our position. It is very difficult, he tells the radio.
Pål Jonson: “Remains to be seen”
At the ongoing security conference in Munich, Defense Minister Pål Jonsson (M) was asked about Haavisto’s statement.
– I have not had any direct conversations with Haavisto here, I note that Haavisto said in the same interview that you can sometimes get different messages from Ankara. So it remains to be seen, says the Minister of Defence.
He does not want to describe the fact that Finland is opening to join NATO without Sweden as Finnish impatience.
– This is the result of Turkey having greater objections to the Swedish application than to the Finnish one, he tells the news agency.
Negotiations remain
Regarding Sweden’s application, negotiations remain, Cavusoglu told Haavisto during their conversation, according to the Finnish foreign minister.
Turkey has previously indicated that the country may ratify only Finland’s application. In addition, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, among others, has opened up for a scenario where Finland joins the defense alliance before Sweden.
SVT Nyheter has continuously sought Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) for a comment on Haavisto’s statement, without success.
The text is updated.