Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson does not want Finland to be admitted to NATO before Sweden. The accession of both countries must be ratified jointly, he says in an interview with the Financial Times.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership at the same time as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey has been blocking that accession for months. According to Ankara, Sweden and Finland support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey labels as a terrorist group.
Swedish membership in particular is difficult for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He already suggested the possibility of treating the accession of the two Scandinavian countries separately, but Stockholm and Helsinki have refused to do so.
“The very close military cooperation between Sweden and Finland would become much more complicated if we were separated as members,” said Kristersson. “We started the accession process together and should complete it together.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said earlier that she would prefer joint accession with Sweden.
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