Sweden in NATO?
This can be discussed only if Ankara first joins the European Union. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the European Union should open the doors for Ankara’s entry, and in return Turkey could approve Sweden’s entry into NATO.
“First, let’s pave the way for Turkey to the European Union, and then let’s pave the way for Sweden, as we did with Finland. I said the same thing last night to Joe Biden, and I will have to say the same thing in Vilnius. I want to highlight a fact: Turkey has been waiting at the gates of the European Union for more than 50 years, and now almost all NATO members are also members of the EU,” Erdogan explained during a press conference. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is the place where the NATO summit will take place in the coming days, which will be attended by the President of Turkey.
The reply from Brussels received through the representative of the European Commission, Dana Spinant, was dry: “Unsurprisingly, these are two separate processes; the EU has a very structured expansion process, and different steps need to be completed by each candidate. It is a process that considers merits. These two processes can only be separated.”