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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson on Thursday to discuss Sweden’s application to join NATO. Hungary and Turkey were the last NATO countries to ratify Sweden and Finland into NATO. Photo by Paul Hanna/UPI | License photo
October 20 (UPI) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristsson on Thursday to discuss Sweden and Finland’s application to join the military alliance.
Stoltenberg in press conference The accession process of the two Nordic countries is by far the fastest in NATO’s modern history.
Most NATO countries have completed the parliamentary process for ratification of NATO membership, but there are also two insist – Hungary and Turkey.
turkey agree to deal Sweden and Finland accepted in June, but Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan They have since threatened to block them from entering if they don’t keep their promises.
Stoltenberg welcomed steps Sweden has taken to address Turkey’s concerns, including “terminating any restrictions on arms sales to Turkey, significantly strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation, banning participation in terrorist groups, including the PKK, and adopting The Joint Implementation Mechanism works on issues such as extradition and terrorist financing.”
“I welcome your commitment to the trilateral memorandum signed by Turkey, Sweden and Finland to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism. We all agree on the importance of the memorandum,” Stoltenberg told Christerson. “And the need to address legitimate security concerns in Turkey.
Christerson, who elected Sweden’s new prime minister reiterated his commitment to the deal on Monday.
“We are very committed to the agreement between Sweden and Finland and Turkey, and we are doing everything we can to meet all our obligations in it as soon as possible,” Christerson said. “Just wanted to stress that fighting terrorism is critical in this deal.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told Politico on Thursday that she did not think Hungary and Turkey would prevent Finland from joining NATO.
“I have spoken to Prime Minister Orban and President Erdogan about the situation and we know there should be no problems with Finland and our application,” Marin says.
Marin said she believes it is important for the Nordic security of Sweden and Finland to join NATO together.
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