Follow live the latest news about the war in Ukraine
June 16 () –
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has urged Turkey to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership ahead of the summit to be hosted by Lithuania in July during a press conference in Paris with her Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom.
“We must move forward. It is in everyone’s interest, including Turkey, and we are counting on it, now that the elections have passed, to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession,” he said at a press conference, adding that they want the country to be in Vilnius as a full member of the Alliance.
For his part, the Swedish Foreign Minister has stated that Stockholm shares Turkey’s view of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization. “We must arm ourselves with patience and make sure we continue working,” he stated, according to the newspaper ‘Aftonbladet’.
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ruled out on Wednesday that Sweden could receive the final green light to join NATO coinciding with the meeting of leaders in Vilnius, a jug of cold water for the military bloc, which was confident that the president announced it during the forum itself, with a view to its entry being effective from October, when the Turkish Parliament meets again after the summer recess.
In addition to the endorsement of Turkey, Sweden also has yet to get that of Hungary, which has criticized on several occasions the criticism of the management of the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, coming from the Nordic country.
