Swedish Prime Minister: Finland could be the first to join NATO

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Finland would rather join NATO than her country.

Kristersson, who held a press conference with Sweden’s chief NATO negotiator Oskar Stenström in Stockholm, said Turkey’s acceptance of Finland’s membership is becoming increasingly clear after the events of recent weeks. “NATO talks between Sweden, Turkey and Finland resumed at the end of February after a short break, but so far the countries have not come to a decision,” Kristersson said, adding that Turkey had recently signaled that it could only be ready to endorse Finland’s proposal. application. Stressing that his country is ready to overcome such a situation as Finland joining NATO without Sweden, Kristersson said that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg generally notes that if this happens, it will not create a long-term problem.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will make a critical visit to Turkey on Friday after the 3rd meeting of the Turkey-Sweden-Finland Permanent Joint Mechanism held last week. At the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Niinistö, the first item on the agenda will be the Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding and the steps taken by Finland to implement the points of the memorandum.