On Tuesday, January 23, the Turkish parliament voted to ratify the document on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
Three months after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced a bill approving Sweden’s membership of NATO to parliament, Turkish parliamentarians voted in favor of its adoption. After a four-hour debate, 287 of the 346 MPs supported the bill, 35 were against and the rest abstained. The Turkish president is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson quickly reacted to the news, saying: “Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO.” In turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that “Sweden’s membership makes NATO stronger and all of us safer.” He added that he hoped Hungary – the last country not yet to agree to the alliance’s expansion – would vote on Sweden’s request “as soon as possible”.
On Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán indicated he would be willing to raise the issue and invited Kristersson to visit Budapest for negotiations. In a letter to the Swedish Prime Minister, he wrote: “I believe that a more intensive dialogue could help strengthen trust between our countries and institutions, allowing us to further strengthen our political and security arrangements.”
Sweden’s road to NATO
After Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, the governments of Sweden and Finland expressed their desire to join NATO. Both countries’ membership applications were quickly approved by all NATO countries except Turkey and Hungary. President Erdogan demanded that Sweden extradite representatives of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and the Hungarian Prime Minister spoke of “disrespect” for Budapest on the part of the Scandinavian countries.
At the end of March, the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary ratified Finland’s application for membership in the Alliance. On April 4, the country was officially admitted to NATO.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
