Its new Prime Minister Ulf Christerson, along with his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin, announced that Sweden is ready to consider installing nuclear weapons on its territory once it becomes a member of NATO.
“We must not set any conditions,” Sana Marin initially announced during a joint press conference in Helsinki. “We decided we didn’t want to close any doors.”
“You will receive exactly the same response from me as the Prime Minister of Finland,” added Mr. Christerson.
“It is normal for Sweden and Finland to work together on this and we must follow the same measures,” the Swedish prime minister said. “So I intend to move forward hand in hand with Finland.”
Marin and Christerson acknowledged, however, that if their countries had any reservations, they could always articulate them “later.”
Denmark and Norway, both members of NATO, have refused to allow foreign powers to install nuclear weapons or permanent bases on their soil.
To date, 28 member states – among the thirty countries of NATO have ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland, which must be approved unanimously.
Only Hungary and Turkey have not yet given their final agreement.
Mr. Christerson spoke by phone last Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a time when Sweden is trying to persuade Ankara to verify its accession to NATO.
The Turkish president has threatened since mid-May to block the northern countries’ accession to NATO, accusing Sweden and Finland of protecting Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) who are considered terrorists. by Ankara.
Erdogan warned that the Turkish parliament would not ratify the two countries’ membership until Ankara’s extradition requests were met.
A senior Turkish official told AFP on Friday that President Erdogan will receive NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Turkey on November 4 to discuss Ankara’s ratification of Sweden and Finland membership.
