The governments of Sweden and Finland have come out Tuesday against speculation about a possible break-up of the common front to join NATO, even though Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom has admitted that the Turkish government, on which ratification depends, has a «more positive» view of the Finnish candidacy.
Billstrom met in Helsinki with his counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, a day after the Finnish newspaper ‘Iltalehti’ published, citing its own sources, that the government of Sanna Marin had already made it clear that it would not wait for Sweden to complete the accession to the Atlantic Alliance.
Haavisto has defended that any option outside the joint breakthrough is for now speculative, which is why the two Nordic countries are at pains in public to defend that there is no rupture. «The goal is still for Sweden and Finland to become members of NATO,» said the Finnish minister, in statements reported by the public television stations of both countries.
The head of Swedish diplomacy also defended the unity: «We submitted the application together and our intention is to become members (of NATO) as soon as possible». However, he also acknowledged that the process is «a national matter», suggesting that Sweden and Finland do not have to act in the same way at all times.
«Turkey clearly shows that it views the Finnish request more positively than the Swedish one,» Billstrom has said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed on several occasions that his misgivings are concentrated on Sweden and not so much on Finland.
Erdogan has accused the Swedish authorities of not taking all necessary measures to pursue Kurdish militiamen and of allowing the burning of copies of the Koran.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
