Decisive days for Sweden's NATO membership: Stockholm officials hope to lift Turkey's objections
A meeting of officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey hosted today by the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, could provide an important signal regarding Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance, writes the Swedish publication Aftonbladet, according to libertatea.ro.
The meeting, attended by foreign ministers, national security advisers and intelligence chiefs, could represent the last chance for Sweden's accession to be approved by Turkey before the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12.
It is unclear whether Turkey will agree, but Hungary, another country that had raised objections, has signaled it will not oppose joining. On Tuesday, Budapest Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he was in contact with his Turkish counterpart and that if Turkey's position changed, Hungary would not obstruct the process.
Meanwhile, Swedish officials are on a diplomatic offensive, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson arrived in Washington on Wednesday. There, US President Joe Biden told him he was "looking forward" to his country's NATO application receiving final approval. After the meeting with Biden, Kristersson said that he and the US president agreed that "the Vilnius meeting in a week's time is definitely the right time for Sweden to join NATO."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday, encouraging Turkey to support Sweden, the State Department said in a statement.
"Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of NATO unity at such a critical time and encouraged Turkey's support for Sweden to join the NATO Alliance now," the statement said.
