Officially, Finland still wants to join NATO at the same time as its neighbor Sweden. First, because the two countries jointly presented their candidacy on May 18, 2022. Second, for security reasons: Helsinki and Stockholm believe that simultaneous membership would do much more regionally from a defense perspective. However, given Ankara’s refusal to ratify Sweden’s candidacy, the Finns are now preparing to join the Atlantic Alliance of their own.
Also read: NATO membership: Finland and Sweden have submitted their respective applications
On Tuesday 14 February, MEPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament traveled to Stockholm to inform their Swedish counterparts that they are preparing to pass legislation that will allow their country to join NATO once it turns 30 Member States that do so will ratify Finland’s accession protocol. 28 have already done so. Only Turkey and Hungary remain.
At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg opened the door to separate membership at a ministerial meeting in Brussels, saying that “the main problem [n’était] not whether the accessions of Finland and Sweden [étaient] ratified together, but that they both be ratified as soon as possible”.
When Mr Stoltenberg on Wednesday announced a surprise trip to Turkey to help the country after the earthquake and in particular to meet President Erdogan, he hinted that he ” [demanderait] to simultaneously ratify the two accession protocols”. “But it is up to Turkey to decide whether to ratify both protocols or one of the two,” he explained. Before I add: “The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden will soon become members of the alliance will, and I will press for that.”
Turkey masonry
This change of strategy comes in the context of the diplomatic crisis between Stockholm and Ankara following the burning of the Koran by right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21. Since then, President Erdogan has announced that he will oppose Sweden’s candidacy as long as Stockholm has not outlawed blasphemy.
At the beginning of January, Swedish Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who has been in office since October 2022, admitted that the negotiations had reached an impasse: “The Turks confirm that we have done what we had to do, but they also say that they want things that we can’t and we don’t want to give them up,” he then remarked, alluding in particular to the lists of Turkish nationals suspected by Ankara of terrorism, whose extradition Mr Erdogan is demanding.
You still have 52.71% of this article to read. The following is for subscribers only.