See also First visit to Germany since the invasion began
Erdogan is angry at the burning of the Qur’an in Sweden and in protest at the Baghdad embassy | outside
Tensions are not good for Sweden
Sweden cannot use a new diplomatic row with Türkiye. The country must still agree to Sweden joining NATO. The military alliance will hold a summit in Vilnius next month and Sweden hopes to join. All NATO member states must give the green light to this.
But Hungary is a little uncooperative, as it turned out on Wednesday, as the opposition in the Hungarian parliament said a motion to vote on Sweden’s membership in NATO had been rejected.
Agnes Vaday of the opposition DK party said after a closed committee meeting that a motion for a vote next week had been rejected. She said that the government parties opposed it. Indeed, the parliamentary agenda published on Thursday has no vote on Sweden scheduled for next week.
Krijg meldingen bij nieuws over Zweden
The Swedish Prime Minister is concerned
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christson is worried. On Thursday, he said he would discuss the matter with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban. “I was previously informed that Hungary had no plans to postpone matters related to Sweden’s membership in NATO,” said the prime minister, who wanted to know if the country had backed down on the matter.
Opposition member Vaday confirmed earlier to the news agency Reuters that her party will try to force a vote next Monday. It accuses Orban’s government of working with Türkiye to harm “NATO unity”. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to endorse a NATO summit at the moment.”
Turkey is under international pressure to agree to Sweden’s accession, but Erdogan appears not to be satisfied. Earlier this week, the president said in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he was not satisfied yet. According to the Turkish leader, Stockholm has taken a step in the right direction, but conditions are still not acceptable, he said.
