The Nordic countries’ accession to NATO, expected to begin in a few weeks, has been cut short by President Erdogan’s refusal
Turkey’s veto to open Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession talks is disrupting plans for an “explicit” accession of both countries to the military organization, which hoped to have accession documents ready within ten days, a deadline that would affect the position of Turkey. Ankara disrupts.
This Wednesday, the Atlantic Council, NATO’s decision-making body, held its first debate in which it did not automatically approve the opening of negotiations, failing to reach the necessary consensus. The talks took place hours after Helsinki and Stockholm submitted the formal application for membership to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Allied sources confirm to Europa Press that the process will be delayed and that the original plan was to have access protocols ready by the end of May, a scenario they now consider “unlikely” due to the Turkish veto.
Therefore, Stoltenberg is expected to take a step and open consultations with allies to unblock the situation. The allies do not expect a new meeting of the Atlantic Council until the existing reluctance has been removed.
Turkey claims links between the two Scandinavian countries to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish organization considered terrorist by Ankara. For example, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assures that he will not support the accession of “countries that support terrorism”.
The application for membership officially launches the process in NATO, which must first give the green light to open negotiations, a procedure that was expected to be automatic.
A short period will then be opened, of a few days, as access negotiations are not so important in the case of Sweden and Finland, as both countries are already very well aligned with NATO standards, to the extent that they participate to Allied operations without even being a member.
The next step is the signing of the access protocol, which is initialed by the Allies in Brussels to be sent later to the different capitals. The ratification of these protocols would be the longest phase due to the different systems to guarantee the new partner.
Source: La Verdad
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