On Thursday 6 July, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that a meeting would be held in Vilnius on Monday 10 July with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to try to move forward Sweden's NATO membership process.
On 6 July, Mr Stoltenberg chaired what he described as a “productive” meeting on Sweden’s membership of the Alliance, with delegations from Turkey, Finland and Sweden.
The Secretary General felt that “the time (had) come for Sweden to join the Alliance”, judging that it was “absolutely possible” to reach a positive decision at the NATO summit on 11 and 12 July.
According to Mr Stoltenberg, at the meeting, all parties felt that they had made good progress. “We all agreed that the full membership of Sweden is in the security interest of all Allies and we all want to complete this process as soon as possible” he explained.
Stockholm “has delivered on the commitments it made under the trilateral memorandum. Sweden has amended its constitution and introduced new anti-terrorist legislation. It has removed restrictions on arms exports to Turkey. It has stepped up counter-terrorism cooperation, including against the PKK”, added Mr Stoltenberg.
Noting the anti-Turkey and anti-NATO demonstrations in Sweden, the Secretary General said that the participants wanted to prevent Sweden from joining the Alliance, to disrupt counter-terrorism cooperation and to weaken the Alliance.
“So we need to be clear-headed. The only people who benefit from these provocations are those who want to divide NATO. Any further delay in Sweden’s membership would be welcomed by the PKK and President Putin”, warned Mr Stoltenberg, pointing out the advantages of Sweden’s membership of NATO. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)