Sweden has already fulfilled its part of the agreement to join NATO, Sweden’s European affairs minister said on Friday, ruling out demands from countries such as Turkey and Hungary as obstacles for the country.
Jessika Roswall said the country has fulfilled its part of the agreement made with Turkey and Finland and the question of accession is no longer Sweden’s.
“We have strong freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Sweden. And we are proud of that, these are core values that we are not afraid to lose”said Roswall, who assured that the Swedish government will continue to defend democratic values ”in every possible way”.
The minister deplored Hungary’s attitude, which still stands in the way of Sweden’s admission to NATO, and argued that “looking at the map, it is clear that Sweden would fit into the region’s security system”.
Turkey has blocked Sweden’s accession to NATO, claiming that the government has made insufficient efforts to prevent criticism of Islam and the proliferation of Kurdish opposition organizations on its territory, while Hungary condemns the country for criticizing Viktor Orbán’s government .
“We are happy that Finland has been accepted as a member because it makes Europe and Sweden safer (…) and of course we would also like to become a member and hope to become one as soon as possible,” said Roswall.
Source: DN
