NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the agreement between Stockholm and Ankara on Sweden’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance makes the Vilnius summit a “historic” moment. Stoltenberg claims that “NATO security” is strengthened by the agreement.
“This summit is historic before it even starts because Swedish membership is now in effect. Sweden will become a full member of this alliance.” Stoltenberg said, believing that it strengthens the allies’ security, that “it’s good for Sweden, it’s good for Turkey, it’s good for all of NATO and it’s good for the Baltic region too”.
Asked about the terms of the agreement and possible concessions to Ankara after the Turkish president showed his willingness to make last-minute demands, Stoltenberg assured that it was only about “raising awareness” of the parties involved of the importance of collective defense, to overall stability.
“People think it is very mysterious, but in fact it is not,” Stoltenberd assured, emphasizing that “in reality” the agreement is “in Turkey’s interest”.
“Turkey raised some legitimate security concerns with regard to terrorism very early on,” Stoltenberg said, noting that Sweden has fulfilled all the commitments made at the Madrid Summit.
Stoltenberg did not shy away from controversial issues, namely the US transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine, but he claims that this type of weapon is already in use by Russia.
“The difference is that Russia uses cluster munitions to invade another country and occupy Ukraine, while Ukraine uses cluster munitions to defend against Russian aggression,” he stressed, assuring that NATO will maintain its support for Ukraine as long as it takes.
“Wars are unpredictable by nature. They usually last longer than we expect. But our only answer is that we must support Ukraine as long as it takes, and that we must increase and sustain our support to Ukraine.”insured.
The summit that starts this Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, will have support for Ukraine as its central theme. It is already known that the allies are in favor of supporting Kiev “as long as it is necessary”, as the NATO Secretary General reaffirmed.
At this summit, they will support the reinforcement of equipment, such as demining equipment. Everyone agrees on this point. There is also no doubt that Ukraine should join NATO. There is controversy over the process to follow to include Kiev in the members of the Atlantic alliance.
According to DN, some countries, such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, defend that Ukraine’s accession process to NATO should be accelerated, the most possible. But the general view is one of greater caution.
The discussion around the conditions puts aside those asking for more speed and defends that it should be as soon as possible. That is, when the war is over. But other countries, such as Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands or even the United States, propose a more cautious language, defending that accession takes place “when the conditions are met”, as defended yesterday by the Prime Minister, António Costa, in a speech to journalists . In this case, the process would be linked to a set of criteria. For example, the democratic functioning, or the fight against corruption.
But a signal has already been given at the Vilnius summit to Ukraine, which has been exempted from compliance with the NATO accession action plan. This plan not only imposes evaluation criteria at the political and economic level, but also at the level of defence, security and legal aspects.
Another element of rapprochement is the possibility for Kiev to sit down with the members of the Atlantic Alliance in the NATO-Ukraine Council, at the first meeting of the newly created body, also at this summit, with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Source: DN
