NATO Seeking To Ratify Sweden's Membership Bid By Vilnius Summit - Stoltenberg

NATO Seeking to Ratify Sweden's Membership Bid by Vilnius Summit - Stoltenberg

NATO plans to ratify Sweden's application to join the bloc by the Vilnius summit scheduled for July 11, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2023) NATO plans to ratify Sweden's application to join the bloc by the Vilnius summit scheduled for July 11, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

Earlier in March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden had refused to extradite some 120 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization, to Turkey, despite a list of Names being handed over to Stockholm. In May, he noted that Turkey was not ready for Sweden to join NATO.

"We are working on this (Sweden's NATO membership) also with the aim of making a decision at the Vilnius summit. There are no guarantees, but it is absolutely possible to reach a solution and enable a decision on full membership for Sweden by the Vilnius summit," Stoltenberg said during a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

Stoltenberg also noted that there is a "window of opportunity" for Sweden to join NATO after the elections in Turkey, as a new Turkish parliament has been formed.

Sweden, along with Finland, submitted its NATO application in May 2022, several months after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application was ratified by all 30 members of the alliance. Sweden's application is still pending approval from Hungary and Turkey, with the accession process stalled in part due to Quran-burning protests in Stockholm.