Finland and Sweden are stuck on Erdogan's veto on their way to NATO.
Foreign Minister Baerbock is in Scandinavia for talks.
News ticker.
Visit to
Finland
and
Sweden
: Annalena Baerbock advises on the countries joining NATO
Sweden
's
NATO entry
: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blocked
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Baerbock's
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Helsinki/Stockholm/Berlin - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) left on Monday (February 13) for a two-day visit to the NATO accession candidates Finland and Sweden.
"After 80 years of Finnish and 200 years of Swedish non-alignment, both countries have decided to join NATO.
We will continue to work towards this together,” explained the Green politician before leaving for Helsinki.
Visit to Finland and Sweden: Annalena Baerbock discusses joining NATO
Both in Helsinki and in Stockholm, the main focus will probably be on the two countries joining NATO, which Turkey has been blocking for a long time.
Help for Ukraine will also be a priority.
Finland has a 1340 km border with Russia.
Sweden currently plays a central role in the EU.
At the turn of the year, the country took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
Finland and Sweden jointly applied for NATO membership in May 2022 under the impression of the Ukraine war.
All 30 members of the defense alliance must ratify accession.
28 have already done so, only Hungary and Turkey not yet.
NATO enlargement: The growing defense alliance
NATO enlargement: The growing defense alliance
Sweden's NATO entry: Recep Tayyip Erdogan blocked
Serious Hungarian objections are not expected, but Turkey has been blocking NATO's northern expansion for a long time.
She justifies her position primarily with the fact that Sweden is not taking sufficient action against terrorist organizations.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan means above all the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.
Most recently, the burning of the Koran provided Erdogan with further arguments.
(AFP/frs/dpa)