Sweden will be included in NATO in the coming weeks

The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkendeclared this Tuesday that no There are reasons for Turkey and Hungary to delay further the ratification of Sweden’s membership in NATO and hopes that this will take place before the Alliance summit in July in Vilnius (Lithuania).

“The time has come to finalize the entry of Sweden. Sweden has taken significant steps to address security concerns. We have no doubt that it must happen and it will happen in the coming weeks,” Blinken said at a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Luleå (north).

(Also: Blinken: Finland’s entry into Otan is ‘the only thing’ to thank Putin for).

(You may be interested in: The Russian fishing boats that would be used in the event of a war with the West).

Blinken was sympathetic to the “security concerns” expressed above all by Turkey, but stressed that both Finland – whose access was already formalized in April – and Sweden have taken “important steps” and “concrete actions” to satisfy them.

(Also: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visits Ukraine.)

“There are no reasons to delay the decision any further.“said Blinken, who decoupled the Swedish entry with the sale of American F16 fighters to Turkey, although both are “important” issues.

The US Secretary of State pointed out, however, that the Accession to the Alliance of a new country is a “process” carried out by each of the NATO members and he assured that, in historical terms, the entry of Finland and Sweden has been “very fast”.

Sweden and Finland, which ended their historic military non-alignment following the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, They had their applications for NATO membership accepted at last year’s summit in Madrid, following a last-minute agreement with Turkey to lift its veto.

But while Finland was already accepted as a full member in early April, Sweden is still waiting to overcome the Turkish and Hungarian reluctance.

Budapest has criticized Stockholm’s “hostile” attitude and has pointed out that it is necessary to resolve a “large number of complaints”, while Ankara reproaches this Nordic country for not extraditing people linked to organizations it considers terrorists, especially from the Kurdish sphere.

Kristersson today showed his “total” respect for Turkish concerns, but stressed that Sweden has complied with what was agreed in the memorandum, so he hopes that the Turkish decision will take place shortly.

The Swedish prime minister assured that he is in “constant” dialogue with the other party and that he has already maintained contacts with the Turkish Government after the re-election last Sunday of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

the entrance of Sweden in NATO was one of the central topics of the meeting between Kristersson and Blinken, in which the war in Ukraine was also discussed and the challenges of new technologies, an issue that will be discussed today and tomorrow in the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) between the US and the European Union (EU).

This ministerial forum is heldcoinciding with the Swedish presidency of the Council of the EU, in the town of Luleå, where these days Sweden and NATO are carrying out joint maneuvers in the Arctic.

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EFE