The Swedish Prime Minister acknowledged on Tuesday that the likelihood that Finland will join NATO before Sweden has increased, particularly in the face of Turkey's objections to Stockholm.
“
The likelihood of this happening at different speeds has increased
,” Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference.
"
It's clear that over the past few weeks the Turkish side have made it known that they are ready for Finland but not for Sweden
," he said.
Horizon July
Candidates for a year as a direct result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Sweden and Finland still hope to both become members of the alliance before the next NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
But the way is largely clear for Helsinki, while Turkey still has a veto for Stockholm, despite the resumption of talks last week in Brussels.
"
Turkey still doesn't think we've come all the way, and that was made clear at the meeting, while this dissatisfaction was not expressed for Finland,
" Swedish negotiator Oscar Stenström explained. .
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had for the first time mentioned the possibility of joining in two stages in mid-February.
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Turkish and Hungarian voice
The 30 current members of NATO must all ratify in Parliament the accession of Sweden and Finland, long neutral then non-aligned.
Only Turkey and Hungary have yet to give the green light and Ankara has publicly raised the possibility of separating its ratification for the two countries, giving its agreement only for Helsinki.
Ankara notably accuses Stockholm of passivity against Kurdish “
terrorists
” living in Sweden, demanding dozens of extraditions on which the government does not have the last word.
Following diplomatic incidents caused in January by the burning of a Koran in Stockholm by an extremist, the negotiations had been suspended for several weeks.
After multiple postponements, the Hungarian Parliament began to examine the subject at the beginning of March with the support of the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and NATO hopes for a decision “quickly
”
.
But the outlook on the Turkish side is much more uncertain as outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for 20 years, is running for a new term in the May 14 elections.
Sweden's hope is that the path to NATO will open up for it after the elections in Turkey where the opposition presents a united candidate against Erdogan.