Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom has qualified his recent statements in which he said he was »completely convinced» of Stockholm’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance and now speaks of »high hopes» for the process to be completed before the NATO summit in Vilnius next July.
The head of Swedish diplomacy has recognized that, taking into account the latest events and the refusal of Hungary and Turkey to give the definitive ‘green light’ to Sweden’s accession to NATO, these are »sufficient reasons» to »moderate words» on the matter.
»I think ‘hopeful’ is better in this context,» acknowledged Billstrom, who thus alluded to new criticism of Stockholm from Budapest, which has already given the go-ahead for Finland’s NATO membership, and Ankara, which is negotiating the issue this Thursday.
Thus, Billstrom has regretted the harsh words launched from Hungary, which denounces »lack of respect» to the Central European country and »moral superiority» of the Swedish authorities to criticize the Hungarian judiciary, according to the Swedish public television channel, SVT.
We see no reason why we should not be ratified. Those reasons have nothing to do with the Swedish NATO application. It is something completely different. It’s about what views the European Union had on Hungary,» the Swedish foreign minister has defended.
In fact, Billstrom pointed out that not only Sweden, but also Finland, has criticized Hungary’s democratic shortcomings, but that the Hungarian Parliament gave its final approval earlier this week to Stockholm’s membership in the military alliance.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
