Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday it was too early to say when Stockholm and Helsinki will join NATO as Turkey still blocks the process but hopes it will happen “as soon as possible”, naming the Vilnius NATO summit in June as a possible landmark.
Sweden has been seeking Turkey’s approval to join NATO, for which it applied after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Ankara repeatedly asked Stockholm to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and the organisation it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
On Monday, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his demand that Sweden extradites people in order for Turkey to accept Sweden and Finland’s NATO application, according to Turkish state media, raising the number from 73 to 130.
This increase happened after a puppet of Erdoğan was found hanging outside the Stockholm city hall last Friday (13 January), which Kristersson called a “sabotage” of Sweden’s NATO membership.
During an official visit of EU Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm on Monday, however, the prime minister emphasised that Sweden has legislation concerning extraditions and that it intends on enforcing it, meaning that whatever demands Turkey might have, Sweden will not extradite Swedish citizens, even if they are freshly naturalised.
Kristersson also said maintaining unity among European countries is essential and “no other single task could be more important for the Swedish presidency than this one.”
“Staying united and avoiding divisions between European countries and the US is key, not least when Russia wants us to be divided. Unity is our greatest asset and during the presidency, we will continue to support the European Military Assistance Mission to support Ukraine,” Kristersson said, calling the victory of Ukraine “existential” for the EU.
Michel visited Stockholm on Monday as Sweden holds the Council presidency until July 2023. They discussed the priorities of the Swedish presidency, which can be summed up as “making Europe safer, greener and freer” according to Kristersson.
“These three keywords summarise our ambitions and we have a lot to do together these six coming months,” Kristersson said.
(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
