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Former prime minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb, said he is “very optimistic” that Sweden will follow its Nordic neighbour into Nato by the July summit of the defence alliance.
“There were externalities that separated our marriage bid into Nato,” Stubb said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday, adding he was “happy and relieved” about Finland becoming the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday.
“There are domestic issues in Turkey, Hungary as well, but I am very confident that Sweden will join Nato by latest early July at the summit in Vilnius.”
Sweden, which sought Nato accession after Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, is left waiting after both Turkey and Hungary signalled last month they’d approve Finland’s solo entry after months of stonewalling.
Stubb, who is currently director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Italy, said he expects Turkey’s opposition to Swedish entry to start to unravel after the elections next month.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Sweden of not doing enough to crack down on groups that Turkey labels as terrorist, while the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has linked that country’s veto to a clash inside the EU over the rule of law.
“The Turks are very open in conversation with the Swedes at the moment so, start with the base case that Sweden will be a member early July,” Stubb said.
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