NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this Tuesday announced a meeting between Finland, Sweden and Turkey for next week at NATO headquarters to unblock the two candidates’ entry into the Western military organization.
The process has been blocked for months because of Ankara’s reluctance and criticism of the lack of cooperation in the fight against “terrorism” by Kurdish groups.
Speaking in Finland, where he met President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the NATO political leader defended Stockholm and Helsinki’s rapid accession to the alliance as a “priority” and reiterated that the two countries should continue the trilateral agreements with to Ankara. .
“We are making progress. Two weeks ago I had a meeting with the president [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] and we have agreed to organize a meeting next week with Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels,” the former Norwegian prime minister said in reference to the ratification process, pending the green light from Turkey and Hungary.
After months of blockade, NATO has set the summit of allied countries in Vilnius, Lithuania next July, as the deadline for the entry of Sweden and Finns, assuming that the election scenario in Turkey scheduled for May will see an extension to the summer of the ratification process for the accession of Stockholm and Helsinki.
“My message is that both Finland and Sweden have delivered on what they promised in the trilateral agreement they signed with Turkey in Madrid last June,” Stoltenberg argued in the Finnish capital, though acknowledging that it is up to the allies to approve the accession of new members.
“We don’t have a date, but we are working to make it happen as soon as possible,” he said, referring to the deadline for the Swedes and Finns to join NATO.
The head of the allied military organization assured that he was “fully convinced” that Sweden and Finland will be members of NATO, recalling that the 30 allies agreed to invite the two countries to join the Alliance, which then all signed the access protocol.
Sanna Marin, in turn, noted that the entry of Finland and Sweden into the military alliance strengthens NATO’s “policy of expanding credibility”, but also recalled that the issue is “in the hands” of Hungary and Turkey . “We are waiting for the end of the ratification process, sooner rather than later, we hope it will be before the summit,” he said.
Source: DN
