Baerbock for NATO’s rapid northern expansion
Diplomacy | 02/13/2023
In view of the war in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden are striving to join NATO. Federal Chancellor Annalena Baerbock is visiting both countries – also to promote their inclusion in the military alliance.
During her visit to Finland, the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, called on Finland and Sweden to join NATO quickly. After discussions with his colleague Pekka Haavisto in Helsinki, Baerbock said this must now be implemented “without delay”.
The admission of both countries “reinforces NATO as an alliance”, which is all the more important in view of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Baerbock emphasized. Sweden and Finland fulfilled all the criteria for entry into the alliance – Turkey and Hungary were informed of this by the other NATO partners.
NATO northern expansion blocked
Under the impact of the war in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden jointly applied for NATO membership in May 2022. All 30 members of the defense alliance are expected to ratify membership. 28 have already done so, except Hungary and Turkey.
Hungarian objections are not to be expected, but Turkey has been blocking NATO’s northward expansion for a long time. She justifies her position primarily with the fact that Sweden is not taking sufficient action against terrorist organizations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands above all for the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. The Turkish government was also outraged after right-wing extremists burned the Koran in Sweden in January.
Has objections to NATO expansion to the north: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Erdogan had threatened Sweden in late January that he would only agree to Finland’s entry into NATO. The Helsinki government immediately rejected the proposal.
Discussions about tank deliveries
In Baerbock’s talks in Finland and Sweden – she is expected in Stockholm on Tuesday – the planned delivery of Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine is also likely to be an issue. Both countries have these tanks. The federal government is still looking for allies willing to hand them over.
Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Sunday that her government had not yet made a decision on that. Looking at the long Finnish-Russian border, she made it clear that the matter was complicated. Sweden has not yet decided on delivery of the main battle tank.
However, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson does not rule out the possibility that his country will supply fighter jets to Ukraine at some point. At the moment, the issue is not relevant to Sweden, he said last week.
lst/se/wa (dpa, afp)