Sweden 'no longer certain' it will join NATO in July

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. Photo: AP

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom recently said that he is no longer sure that his country will be able to join NATO next July, following recent protests from Hungary and Türkiye.

“I have noticed what has been said in the last few days, especially from Hungary, and that means we always have reasons to change our words. I think in the current context the word ‘hope’ is better,” Mr. Billstrom said.

Just last week, Mr Billstrom himself said it was “a no-brainer” that Sweden would become a NATO member by the time of the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared that securing Sweden's accession to the bloc was his “goal”.

Sweden has applied to join the military alliance along with its neighbor Finland in May 2022, citing changes in the European security landscape after Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine.

However, Sweden has faced opposition from Türkiye, which accuses Stockholm of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an organization that Ankara and its Western allies consider a terrorist group.

Relations deteriorated further in early 2023, following a series of provocations around Sweden. The Swedish minority government, led by the liberal-conservative centrist party, assured that it took Turkey’s accusations seriously but added that there were some demands it could not meet.

In turn, the Hungarian government has expressed displeasure with Stockholm's previous criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the political performance of the ruling Fidesz party and the state of democracy in Hungary in general. Budapest said it considered the criticism to be unjustified and called on Stockholm to refrain from "insults."

According to Sputnik, when Sweden’s efforts clearly failed, the two neighbors parted ways despite their initial intention to “walk together on the NATO path.” In contrast to Sweden’s situation, Finland received full acceptance from 30 NATO member states, although Turkey initially objected and Hungary delayed its comments.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said the country was ready to join NATO and looked forward to welcoming Sweden as well “as soon as possible”.