Sweden and Finland for accession negotiations at NATO Headquarters
On Monday, Sweden’s and Finland’s foreign ministers held talks with NATO to formally launch the process of joining the military alliance – a historic step spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The negotiations, led by Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde and Finland’s counterpart Pekka Haavisto, were made possible after the current NATO member Turkey last week dropped objections.
Ambassadors from NATO’s 30 member countries were expected on Tuesday to sign the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland, which opens a month-long period for allied countries to ratify their membership.
In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February, Sweden and Finland announced in parallel their intention to abolish their military freedom of alliance and become part of NATO.
A NATO summit in Madrid last week supported the move by issuing invitations to the two, after Turkey won concessions over concerns it had raised – and a US promise to accept new warplanes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused Sweden and Finland of being a haven for Kurdish militants he has tried to crush, and of promoting “terrorism”.
He also demanded that they lift the arms embargo imposed for Turkey’s military invasion of Syria in 2019.
But Erdogan held on to the rest of NATO by saying that he could still block Sweden’s and Finland’s bids if they failed to fulfill their promises, some of which were secret, such as possible extradition agreements.
Sweden’s Linde tweeted that she was going to Brussels on Monday for the talks at NATO headquarters and would attend the ambassadors’ signing on Tuesday.
A Finnish diplomat confirmed that Haavisto was also in the Belgian capital for the talks and Tuesday’s signing.
The two foreign ministers were to hold a media conference with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.