Germany says no grey area on ratifying Sweden, Finland NATO bids

Turkey and Hungary are the remaining two countries under the NATO alliance that have yet to ratify the applications of Sweden and Finland. Germany made it clear to Hungary that there is no grey area in ratifying the bids by both countries to join the alliance.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said in Berlin Thursday that she made it clear to Hungary that there is no grey area in ratifying the applications of Sweden and Finland to join the NATO alliance. Both countries filed a joint application to NATO as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in February.

“With regard to the question about Hungary: I would like to underline this clearly…there is no grey area,” Baerbock told reporters in a joint news conference with her Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom.

The chief of staff of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday that the Hungarian parliament would be discussing Sweden and Finland’s ratification during its autumn session following the passage of several EU-related bills.

Only Turkey has raised objections to Sweden and Finland’s accession, having accused Sweden of harboring groups it deems as terrorists. The three countries signed a memorandum to lift Ankara’s veto.

Following the meeting with Baerbock, Billstrom said Sweden would continue its dialogue with Turkey in order to gain its approval to join the NATO alliance.

“I think the discussions are continuing in a very positive way,” said Billstrom, adding that discussions will continue on all levels and that he will be visiting Ankara as discussions between the three countries will be continuing at the same time.

On the same day, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was under heavy pressure from Ukraine following Moscow’s order to withdraw its troops from the partially-occupied region of Kherson.

Following his conversation with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Stoltenberg said that NATO will be monitoring the situation in the coming days to confirm if Russians actually did pull back from the west bank of the Dnipro river.

“What is clear is that Russia is coming under heavy pressure and if they leave Kherson it would be another victory for Ukraine,” said Stoltenberg.