no new concessions to Turkey in NATO stand-off
Sweden’s new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday that no more concessions Turkey was on the table during the break NATOs expansion.
said Mr. Kristersson Sweden would not go beyond the commitments it made to Turkey in June.
“Nothing more than that, but nothing less than that either,” he said on his first visit to Finland since accession.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she was committed to Sweden and Finland joining NATO at the same time.
The declaration came after Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that Turkey could ratify Finland’s application before Sweden’s.
The two Nordic countries applied to join NATO in May. Turkey and Hungary are the only two of 30 NATO allies that have yet to ratify their applications.
Sweden and Finland committed themselves in the June agreement to take a harder line against Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists.
But since Ankara is still not completely satisfied, Kristersson said on Friday that he was preparing a visit to Ankara to talk to Erdogan in person.
“We respect that each country has to make its own decision on this. But of course Sweden and Finland want a ratification as soon as possible,” Kristersson said.
“There are no other concessions being made other than the very obvious obligations we have under the trilateral agreement, and that is fair enough.”
Marin said that when she met Erdogan in Prague on October 6, he repeated that he was happier with Finland than Sweden.
But she said that it is important for Nordic security that Finland and Sweden join the alliance.
The two countries submitted their applications together in May, seeking protection after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“We are very committed to going hand in hand [in] The NATO process with Sweden, which we have done so far, said Marin.
“It is very important that we both become NATO member countries at the same time, because it does not only have to do with Finland or Sweden, but the entire Nordic part of Europe, the entire security environment.”
Hungary, which has often frustrated its European allies by blocking sanctions against Russia, said this week that its lawmakers would consider the two Nato applications in December.
Kristersson replaced Magdalena Andersson after a narrow election victory last month but promised to cooperate with the opposition parties on the NATO issue.
He said his government was looking at ways to increase military aid to Ukraine without weakening Sweden’s defenses at home.
Updated: October 28, 2022, 1:29 p.m