Turkey's delaying tactics to stop Sweden's entry into NATO overwhelmed the patience of its allies yesterday, who made their exasperation with the situation clearer than ever and increased the pressure to finish the ratification procedures " the sooner the better" in a message also addressed to Hungary, the other country that needs to complete the process, to which they reminded their promise that it would not be "the last" allied country to take the step.
In view of the lack of results of the strategy of moderation practiced so far in order not to strain the relationship with Ankara, which has obtained important concessions from Stockholm in terms of the fight against terrorism, the position on the Kurdish question and the sale of weapons, the tone of the allied foreign ministers, meeting yesterday in Brussels, was more urgent than ever. Ratification must be done "as soon as possible", demanded the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, to his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, during a bilateral meeting, in which they also addressed the possible purchase of F-16 aircraft.
"The strength and credibility of our Alliance are at stake. We can't lose another day", claimed in statements to the press the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, who asked Turkey and Hungary to ratify the Swedish accession "without delay". "It's been a long time" that should have been done, affirming for his part the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock. "We are very disappointed", bluntly said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen, who emphasized that the Swedish accession was "crucial for the Alliance as a whole".
In a historic turn in its foreign policy, under the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland applied in May 2022 to join the military organization. He requested it together with Sweden and the objective of their respective governments, as well as that of NATO itself, was for them to enter at the same time, as was reiterated at the Madrid summit in June of that year. Turkey did not allow it and retained the Swedish candidacy, a situation that finally led the Government of Finland to advance on its own. Its accession, which brought the number of member countries of the Alliance to thirty-one, was formalized in April.
At the allied summit held in July in Vilnius, after starting new commitments in Sweden in the field of anti-terrorist cooperation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to unblock the entry of the Nordic country. However, it was not until October that he reactivated the procedures, but the expectation was that the Turkish Parliament would finish them in time for yesterday's meeting. The issue, however, has been stuck in the Foreign Affairs committee of the Turkish Lower House without any explanation, although the statements of a Turkish far-right leader in which he advocated closing all mosques in Sweden went give Ankara a foothold to notify its allies that it would not, in effect, ratify accession in time for the last meeting of allied ministers of the year.
The Hungarian Government, in the hands of the ultra-conservative Viktor Orbán, has joined the bandwagon of the Turkish blockade and its Parliament, controlled by Fidesz, continues to not ratify Sweden's entry despite pressure from its NATO partners and the EU. Budapest and Ankara have joined forces in recent months in criticizing the alleged "denigrating" treatment of Sweden towards their respective countries.
Orbán has accused the Swedish Government of having told "blatant lies" about the quality of democracy in Hungary and demands "respect" for his country. In his opinion, there is no rush, because "nothing endangers Sweden's security", Orbán said in September. On December 18, President Erdogan will make an official visit to Budapest, the second since the beginning of the year, to meet with Orbán and celebrate the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their countries.
The next unofficial deadline that NATO has set is for ratification to take place before Christmas. "The process is moving forward, but it's no secret that I would like it to go faster," said NATO Secretary General, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, succinctly, after the Swedish flag was raised again yesterday in a drawer and the Swedish Foreign Minister could only participate in the meeting as a guest.
