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Sweden’s road to Nato: Key dates in crucial week

It's an important week for Sweden's Nato application, with talks with Turkey set to resume on Thursday. Here are the key events this week.

Sweden's road to Nato: Key dates in crucial week
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference last year. Photo: Wiktor Nummelin/TT

Tuesday, March 7th: Hungarian delegation in Stockholm

A delegation of Hungarian parliamentarians are in Sweden to meet parliamentary speaker Andreas Norlén and a group of Swedish MPs to discuss Hungary’s process of ratifying Sweden’s application to join the military alliance.

Sweden and Finland have both criticised Hungary’s flawed rule of law, and one of the Hungarian politicians taking part in the meeting told TT they wanted Sweden to show more “respect”.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has previously said that some of this colleagues are reluctant to accept Sweden due to their alleged “lies” about Hungary, but he has also urged his party, Fidesz, to vote yes in their planned vote on March 20th.

Tuesday, March 7th: Nato chief to meet Swedish party leaders

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg is set to meet Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Kristersson has also invited the leaders of Sweden’s pro-Nato parties – which excludes the Greens and Left Party – to join his meeting with the Nato chief.

Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson has criticised Kristersson for not inviting all parties. He on the other hand has argued that they receive information about Sweden’s Nato application in other ways, for example through parliament’s foreign policy committee.

Wednesday, March 8th: Defence minister summit

Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson will host an informal meeting of his EU counterparts at Arlanda Airport. They are mainly expected to discuss military support of Ukraine, but Sweden and Finland’s Nato applications may also get a mention.

Nato chief Stoltenberg is also set to attend.

Thursday, March 9th: Nato talks resume with Turkey

Turkey is set to resume Nato talks with Sweden and Finland, after putting them on hold following a series of protests in Stockholm earlier this year, including a pro-Kurdish group burning an Erdogan effigy and a far-right extremist burning a copy of the Quran.

Sweden’s chief Nato negotiator Oscar Stenström is set to meet his counterparts in Brussels to go through whether or not the countries are fulfilling the terms of the agreement they signed at a Nato summit last summer to get Turkey to drop its veto.

No major decisions are expected on Thursday, but merely the fact that the process is restarting increases the chances of Sweden joining Nato this summer.

Thursday, March 9th: New terror bill

The Swedish government has on several occasions said that it’s preparing new terror legislation, in response to Turkey’s criticism that Sweden is not doing enough to crack down on PKK members in the country. The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.

A vote on a bill that would ban taking part in terror organisations could become an important step of Sweden’s Nato accession. Despite criticism from Sweden’s Council on Legislation, the government is expected to submit the bill to parliament on Thursday.

If parliament approves the bill, it would come into force on June 1st.

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NATO

IN PICTURES: ‘New era’ as Nato flag hoisted outside Swedish parliament

'Sweden wants peace,' said King Carl XVI Gustaf as he spoke at a flag-hoisting ceremony outside the Swedish parliament to mark his country's Nato membership.

IN PICTURES: 'New era' as Nato flag hoisted outside Swedish parliament

“A new piece of Swedish history is being written,” said the King in his speech on Monday.

“We have left behind the military freedom of alliance founded under Karl XIV Johan,” he added. “A new era of security policy has begun.”

Sweden applied to join Nato following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, King Carl XVI Gustaf, parliamentary speaker Andreas Norlén, Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Micael Bydén, among others. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

The King said that Sweden’s membership would contribute to regional stability, but wasn’t targeted at anyone.

“Sweden wants peace. Thus wrote my grandfather, Gustav VI Adolf, and Prime Minister Tage Erlander to Swedish citizens in the 1960s. That’s still the case today. Sweden threatens no one. Sweden wants peace,” he said.

The Nato flag flying next to the Swedish flag and the EU flag outside parliament. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, speaker of parliament Andreas Norlén and military supreme commander Micael Bydén also attended the ceremony on Monday, alongside members of parliament, government ministers and several party leaders.

US ambassador Erik D Ramanathan and Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, director-general of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

Across the water, outside the Royal Palace, a group of around 20 people held up banners and loudly chanted “no to Nato”.

Demonstrators holding signs reading Free Palestine; Sweden doesn’t need Nato for peace – Nato needs Sweden for war; No to Nato; No to war crimes club Nato. Photo: Samuel Steén/TT

The war in Ukraine and Sweden’s Nato application has not only boosted support for Nato, but also for peace movements.

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska freds) has more than doubled its membership in two years, from just over 6,000 in February 2022 to 15,000 at the start of March 2024, reported regional public radio broadcaster P4 Jönköping earlier on Monday.

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The Swedish branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Internationella kvinnoförbundet för fred och frihet) has grown by 35 percent since January 2022, and the Christian Peace Movement (Kristna fredsrörelsen) grew by 12 percent in 2023.

According to Kerstin Bergeå, chair of Svenska freds, which is against Nato membership, a total of 200 new members signed up on the same day that Hungary ratified Sweden’s application.

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