Stoltenberg expects “progress” from his contacts with Sweden, Finland and Turkey but does not set deadlines

BRUSSELS, June 27 () –

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hopes that Tuesday’s meeting in Madrid with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, will serve to there is “progress” in the accession process of the Nordic countries, although for now he has avoided putting deadlines or “promises” on the table.

This very Monday, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, representatives of the three countries have already met with a view to appeasing the “doubts” that, as Stoltenberg acknowledged at a press conference, persist on the Turkish side, which questions the commitment of Sweden and Finland in the fight against terrorism.

This meeting will be followed by another on Tuesday at the initiative of NATO. According to Stoltenberg, it is part of the shared will to “intensify dialogue” to “make progress” in accession, paralyzed despite the fact that more than a month has passed since the Swedes and Finns formally submitted their request.

NATO is “actively” working to unblock the process, but its secretary general does not want to “speculate” on specific calendars and has recalled that, whatever happens in the coming days, Finland and Sweden will participate in the Alliance summit in Madrid in quality of close partners.

The opening of accession negotiations requires the consensus of the 30 member states, so Turkey has room to block them despite the general agreement that Sweden and Finland should be members of the Atlantic Alliance, especially in the face of the growing threat from Russia in Eastern Europe.