The ambassadors of Sweden and Finland, Teppo Tauriainen and Sari Rautio, have expressed their confidence that their respective countries will obtain, within approximately two weeks, the status of «NATO guest» countries to be able to participate in meetings of the next Summit of Madrid to be held from June 28 to 30.
In a joint press conference, both diplomats recognized the speed with which events have unfolded and that, although there are differences in the debate and decision processes in one country and the other, “it could not be done separately.”
“The decision of the NATO membership is historic. It may be a dramatic change but at the same time it must be seen that the step is not so great because in the last ten years there have been close ties between Finland and NATO”, defended the Finnish ambassador.
Both diplomats argued that the accession of Sweden and Finland “will promote our security but at the same time make NATO stronger.”
The Swedish ambassador defended that at the base of his country’s historic decision are two facts: the violation of international law by Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and the perception that “our security environment has worsened”.
Both diplomats have thanked the shows of support from countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, France, the USA or Spain itself for this transition process until the 30 parliaments of the NATO countries vote in favor of accession Swedish-Finnish in the Atlantic Alliance.
They ruled out that allied troops be deployed in their territories in this period until their final accession, which “could last a year or even less, being a matter of months”, as the Swedish diplomat stated.
On a possible veto of Turkey to its membership, both representatives expressed their confidence that it will not be an impediment in the end. “You have to take it seriously but also don’t fear that this will prevent our entry into NATO,” said Teppo Tauriainen.
The press conference of the two ambassadors took place just two hours after their colleagues before NATO formalized the application for membership in person before the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.
Two months ago both ambassadors offered another joint press conference where they stressed that their countries “were not neutral.”
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