Turkey moves closer to ratification of Swedish Nato application

Turkey' foreign policy committee will vote on Thursday on whether to approve Sweden’s Nato application, it said in an update posted on its website, moving Sweden's membership one step closer to ratification.

Published: 14 November 2023 16:57 CET

Turkey moves closer to ratification of Swedish Nato application

Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson speaking to reporters in Brussels. Photo: Wiktor Nummelin/TT

“Obviously, we welcome this news,” Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson told reporters on Tuesday. “It is in line with the agreement we had with Turkey in July that ratification would occur as soon as possible. We need to become members as soon as we can.”

A source speaking to TT newswire said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be in Berlin on Friday and was hoping to have positive news for German chancellor Olof Scholz.

If there are no delays to the process, the Turkish parliament could ratify Sweden’s application next week, on the 20th or 21st of November.

After parliament’s decision, Erdogan will have to formally approve ratification before the document can be sent to Washington.

Hungary and Turkey are the only Nato countries left which need to approve Sweden’s application, and Hungarian president Viktor Orbán has pledged previously that his country will not be the last to ratify.

If Turkey ratifies next week and Orbán keeps his promise, Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström would be able to participate in Nato’s next meeting in Brussels on November 28th as a full member.

Hungarian minister Gergely Gulyás recently demanded that Sweden explain comments made by Swedish politicians about the state of Hungarian democracy, although the country has not formally said it will delay Sweden’s application further.

“We didn’t discuss it today, but the message has always been the same: that Hungary will not be the last country to ratify Sweden’s application,” Jonson said.

It is now a year and a half since Sweden applied for Nato membership.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Signed by Stockholm and Washington in December, the deal gives the US access to 17 military bases and training areas in Sweden, and allows the storage of weapons, military equipment and ammunition.

The agreement was approved by a broad majority in parliament following an almost five-hour debate, with 266 MPs voting in favour and 37 against, while 46 were absent.

The main opponents, the Left and Green parties, had argued that the agreement ought to state outright that the Scandinavian country would not allow nuclear weapons on its territory.

READ ALSO:

What does the new Sweden-US defence pact mean for you?

“We want to see legislation that bans nuclear weapons from being brought onto Swedish soil,” Green Party MP Emma Berginger told parliament during Tuesday’s debate.

“Unfortunately, the government has chosen to sign an agreement that doesn’t close the door to nuclear weapons, and therefore the Green Party is going to vote no to this agreement,” she told said during the debate.

Manual widget for ML (class=”ml-manual-widget-container”)

Greens leader Daniel Helldén had argued on Monday that the agreement made Sweden “a target for nuclear weapons” since “we’re going to have 17 bases where the Americans can store (military) materiel”.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right minority government, propped up by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has said the deal respects Swedish sovereignty.

“It is very clear that Sweden is a sovereign nation, and there is no other country that can force Sweden to have nuclear weapons on Swedish soil,” Defence Minister Pål Jonson insisted.

‘Naive’

The Left and Green parties, which also voted against Sweden’s Nato membership, together hold just 42 seats in parliament, which was not enough to block the agreement’s adoption on their own.

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association, one of the biggest critics of the move, said two successive Swedish governments insisted during the Nato application process that Sweden would have the same stance on nuclear weapons as neighbouring Denmark and Norway.

“But unlike Norway’s and Denmark’s DCA agreements, there is no clause in Sweden’s agreement against nuclear weapons being brought into or placed in Sweden,” the association’s head Kerstin Bergeå wrote in an op-ed.

In addition, Finland, which joined Nato in April 2023, “has a national law prohibiting nuclear weapons on Finnish territory and Finland’s DCA agreement refers to this law”.

A similar Swedish clause would “strengthen the Nordic region and contribute to a joint de-escalation vis-a-vis Russian nuclear weapons”, Bergeå said.

Nukes in wartime?

Sweden’s prime minister made headlines last month when he opened the door for the possibility of nuclear weapons in the country during wartime.

“In a war situation it’s a completely different matter, (it) would depend entirely on what would happen,” Kristersson told public radio broadcaster SR.

Two Left Party MPs said in an op-ed on Sunday: “That’s an incredible statement and is totally the opposite of what the Swedish people think and what Sweden has long stood for.”

Bergeå questioned whether Sweden would be able to put a brake on the United States.

“An agreement based solely on confidence is not enough in important matters such as these,” she said.

Jonson, the defence minister, has said Sweden needed to strengthen its international cooperation “to defend our freedom and democracy”.

“With the DCA, Sweden can receive early, swift and effective military support from the United States in a deteriorating security situation,” he said last month.

“The agreement acts as a deterrent and is stabilising. It reduces the risk of war breaking out and makes Sweden safer,” Jonson said.