On Wednesday evening, another sour message came for the Swedish government regarding the NATO process: Turkey’s vote can be postponed until October because the parliament closes for the summer break.
– We still have to see because the Turkish parliament has not gone on summer vacation yet, says Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) in Nyhetsmorgon.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that parliament will close for the summer, and will not open until October. Swedish NATO membership could therefore be months away.
– If you can convene the parliament at any time, then you can also carry out our ratification at any time, says Billström in today’s Nyhetsmorgon, and continues:
– I also took the opportunity to speak with my Turkish foreign minister colleague Hakan Fidan during the last hours in Vilnius and assured myself then, and received a clear answer, that the parliament can be opened at any time during this period.
“We have a handshake”
Erdogan also highlighted that Sweden must continue the fight against terrorism and that the Koran burnings that took place in Sweden are taken seriously.
Billström says that it is up to an independent Turkish parliament to ratify the Swedish NATO application, but that there is a handshake.
– I want to emphasize one thing. So we have a handshake between Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, President Erdogan and Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg. We have not had that before, now there is a clear message that the application is to be ratified.
Celebrated in after the meeting on Monday
On Monday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met together with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. An agreement was reached, which means, among other things, that Erdogan will hand over Sweden’s NATO application to the Turkish parliament for ratification.
No timetable was given, but Billström said in several interviews after the meeting that it could happen within the next few weeks.