NATO is now setting the summit of allied leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, next July as the deadline for Sweden and Finland to join the organization, after assuming that the electoral situation in Turkey postpones until the summer the ratification of Stockholm and Helsinki’s accession.
Speaking ahead of the meeting of allied defense ministers, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith insisted that the allies want Sweden and Finland to join the coalition and insisted that Washington hopes to finalize the process by the July 11-12 summit.
«We worked closely with the countries pending ratification, Hungary and Turkey, and many of us have said that our interest and expectation is that Sweden and Finland will join the alliance soon. Many allies, including the United States, would like to see that happen in time for the Vilnius summit,» the U.S. diplomat said.
Smith highlighted the contributions of the Swedes and Finns to NATO, stressing their closeness to the alliance and arguing that they will bring many military capabilities to enhance the security environment in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea.
The lack of progress in recent months between Turkey and the two candidates, coupled with the elections scheduled for May 14, with the dissolution of the chambers, rules out any ratification of membership at this stage. An allied source shares this analysis and insists that the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO at the same time, after Helsinki suggested a possible advance alone, since Ankara focuses its veto on Stockholm.
This allied source points to June, when the Turkish parliament will be constituted, as a possible moment to unblock the situation, although, in any case, the ultimate goal is to have good news for the meeting in Vilnius.
These deadlines have been assumed by Finland itself, whose president, Sauli Niinisto, pointed to the summit in Lithuania as the scenario for formalizing entry into the organization and warned that if the blockade persisted by then he would raise questions about NATO accession, insisting that Turkey’s veto has become a problem for the military alliance itself.
Stockholm and Helsinki formally applied in May for membership and their process has been processed in record time, but has run into a veto from Ankara, which cites lack of cooperation on counter-terrorism to block formal ratification. The Turkish authorities are blocking its entry until they hand over all individuals accused of belonging to Kurdish organizations declared by the Turkish government as terrorist groups, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Turkish veto was first cleared on the eve of the NATO leaders’ summit in Madrid, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a three-way agreement with Sweden and Finland to cooperate on counter-terrorism, a pact that Swedes and Finns now claim to honor but which has not translated into a more conciliatory position from Turkey, which insists on the extradition of individuals linked to the PKK.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
