VILNIUS: Turkiye agreed Monday to allow Sweden to join NATO, setting the stage for the allies to showcase their unity at a summit focused on supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s block on Sweden’s membership bid had cast a cloud over preparations for Tuesday’s meeting, but the countries ironed out their differences in 11th-hour talks in Vilnius.
“Completing Sweden’s accession to NATO is a historic step that benefits the security of all NATO allies at this critical time. It makes us all stronger and safer,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was “very happy” and hailed “a good day for Sweden”.
Sweden’s bid must still be approved by the Turkish parliament, and Erdogan has agreed to push for its ratification.
Hungary is also yet to greenlight Stockholm’s bid, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban has signalled he will follow Erdogan’s lead.
US President Joe Biden, also in Vilnius for the summit, thanked Stoltenberg and said: “I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd NATO ally.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also welcomed the “good news” on Twitter.
Turkiye has been holding up Sweden’s application to join the Atlantic alliance, accusing Stockholm of harboring Kurdish activists Ankara regards as terrorists.
And on Monday, Erdogan upped the stakes, demanding that the European Union revive Turkiye’s stalled EU membership bid as a precondition for Sweden joining NATO.
In a statement after the three-way talks between Erdogan, Kristersson and Stoltenberg, Sweden vowed to boost bilateral trade and anti-terrorism coordination.
“Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Turkiye’s EU accession process, including modernization of the EU-Turkiye Customs Union and visa liberalization,” the statement said.
That agreement came after Erdogan paused his talks with Stoltenberg and Kristersson for a side meeting with EU chief Charles Michel, president of the European Council.
Michel hailed a “good meeting”, adding that they had “explored opportunities ahead to bring EU-Turkiye cooperation back to the forefront and re-energise our relations”.
Turkiye has been a formal candidate to join the European Union since 2005, and an aspirant since long before that, but talks have long been stalled with little sign of life.
But Monday’s statements imply Ankara and Brussels may move on boosting trade, updating their customs agreements and loosening visa rules in the absence of formal membership talks.
EU members remain skeptical of Ankara’s commitment to democratic and rule of law reforms, and Germany’s Olaf Scholz insisted Sweden and Turkiye’s ambitions are not linked.
Separately, Ukraine welcomed a move forward in its fight for a guarantee that it will be able to join NATO as a full member if and when it defeats the Russian invasion.
A Western official told AFP the allies will drop the requirement that Kyiv complete a “Membership Action Plan”, a kind of road map to military reform that some allies have had to follow.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said this concession — which Moscow warned would have serious consequences for European security — would shorten Kyiv’s path to NATO membership.
“It is also the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become member,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
“Ukraine deserves to be in the alliance. Not now, because now there’s war, but we need a clear signal and this signal is needed right now,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message posted on Telegram.
But NATO leaders remain divided over offering Ukraine a clear route into the alliance in Vilnius.
While Eastern allies are pushing for Kyiv to get an explicit commitment on when it can join, the United States and Germany are reluctant to go beyond an earlier vow that Ukraine will become a member one day.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Ganna Malyar said Kyiv’s troops had established fire control over the “entrances, exits and movement of the enemy around the city” of Bakhmut in the country’s east.
Russian shelling on an aid hub in the town of Orikhiv in southern Ukraine has killed seven people, the emergency services said on Monday.
Turkiye unblocks Sweden NATO bid, setting stage for summit
https://arab.news/6zh46
Turkiye unblocks Sweden NATO bid, setting stage for summit
- Turkiye has been holding up Sweden’s application to join the Atlantic alliance, accusing Stockholm of harboring Kurdish activists Ankara regards as terrorists
- Sweden’s bid must still be approved by the Turkish parliament, and Erdogan has agreed to push for its ratification
Rubio to visit eastern Europe, bolster ties with pro-Trump leaders
- Energy cooperation and NATO commitments will be discussed
- Trump’s hard-right supporters view Hungary’s Orban as a model
MUNICH: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to begin a two-day trip on Sunday, to bolster ties with Slovakia and Hungary, whose conservative leaders, often at odds with other European Union countries, have warm ties with President Donald Trump.
Rubio will use the trip to discuss energy cooperation and bilateral issues, including NATO commitments, the State Department said in an announcement last week.
“These are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, work very closely with us, and it’s a good opportunity to go see them and two countries I’ve never been in,” Rubio told reporters before departing for Europe on Thursday.
Rubio, who in his dual role also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, will meet in Bratislava on Sunday with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who visited Trump in Florida last month. The US diplomat’s trip follows his participation in the Munich Security Conference over the last few days.
WILL MEET VIKTOR ORBAN ON MONDAY
On Monday, Rubio is expected to meet with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who is trailing in most polls ahead of an election in April when he could be voted out of power.
“The President said he’s very supportive of him, and so are we,” Rubio said. “But obviously we were going to do that visit as a bilateral visit.”
Orban, one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, is considered by many on the American hard-right as a model for the US president’s tough policies on immigration and support for families and Christian conservatism. Budapest has repeatedly hosted Conservative Political Action Conference events, which bring together conservative activists and leaders, with another due in March.
TIES WITH MOSCOW AND CLASHES WITH THE EU
Both Fico and Orban have clashed with EU institutions over probes into backsliding on democratic rules.
They have also maintained ties with Moscow, criticized and at times delayed the imposition of EU sanctions on Russia and opposed sending military aid to Ukraine.
Even as other European Union countries have secured alternative energy supplies after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, including by buying US natural gas, Slovakia and Hungary have also continued to buy Russian gas and oil, a practice the United States has criticized.
Rubio said this would be discussed during his brief tour, but did not give any details.
Fico, who has described the European Union as an institution that is in “deep crisis”, has showered Trump with praise saying he would bring peace back to Europe.
But Fico criticized the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January.
Hungary and Slovakia have also so far diverged from Trump on NATO spending.
They have raised defense spending to NATO’s minimum threshold of 2 percent of GDP.
Fico has, however, refused to raise expenditure above that level for now, even though Trump has repeatedly asked all NATO members to increase their military spending to 5 percent. Hungary has also planned for 2 percent defense spending in this year’s budget.
On nuclear cooperation, Slovakia signed an agreement with the United States last month and Fico has said US-based Westinghouse was likely to build a new nuclear power plant.
He also said after meeting the chief of France’s nuclear engineering company Framatome during the week he would welcome more companies taking part in the project.
