Germany is "very sure" that an agreement can be reached on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, a source in the German government told the news agency. Reuters.
However, the source considered it unlikely that a consensus would be reached before the NATO summit in the Spanish capital, Madrid next week, as Turkey continues to block accession talks.
"As nice as it would be to announce concrete action .. it wouldn’t be a disaster if it needed a few more weeks," the source said, adding that the German government has not identified any "insurmountable problems" reaching an agreement.
NATO will host talks between the Finnish, Swedish and Turkish authorities in Brussels on Monday to break the deadlock.
The STT news agency told the foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) has said that Finland does not have high expectations for the meeting.
In an interview with AFP Paul Levin A spokesman for the Stockholm Institute at the University of Stockholm said that while progress in the discussions was possible, it could also prove "very difficult".
"It would require a real willingness on both sides to compromise," he said.
Präsident der Türkei Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Finland and Sweden "protection of terrorists" and published a list of requirements that must be met before Ankara allows accession negotiations to proceed.
Over the past five years, Turkey has asked Finland to extradite several members of the Gülen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as well as Finland and Sweden, to lift its arms embargo on Turkey.
Levin pointed out that Turkish hatred is particularly directed at Sweden, even though Sweden considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization, as do other European countries and the EU.
However, Sweden stands out from the crowd because of the estimated 100,000 people of Kurdish background described by Levin. "influential" minority.
"In that sense, perhaps Turkey is right to focus on Sweden in the spotlight," Levin said.
Quelle: Die nordische Seite