NATO Announces Urgent Bid to Admit Sweden Into the Alliance

NATO Announces Urgent, Bid to Admit Sweden, Into the Alliance.

On June 26, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called an urgent meeting to reach an agreement with Turkey over objections to Sweden joining the alliance.

Fox News reports that the meeting, planned to occur in the coming days, is a last-ditch effort to have Sweden join prior to a major summit in July.

In order to expand the alliance, NATO requires unanimous approval of all members.

Turkey has maintained its opposition to Sweden joining NATO, accusing the Nordic country of being lenient on groups that Ankara considers a security threat.

We agreed to convene a high-level meeting in Brussels before the summit.

The aim is to make progress in completing Sweden’s accession to NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, via Fox News.

While Stoltenberg did not specify a specific date for the urgent meeting, he said that foreign ministers, intelligence officials and national security advisors would be involved.

Citing fears following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland have abandoned years of neutrality by seeking to join NATO.

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Citing fears following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland have abandoned years of neutrality by seeking to join NATO.

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In April, Finland became the 31st member of the world's largest security organization.

Fox News reports that Hungary has also objected to Sweden's bid to join NATO, while having yet to publicly state what their concerns are.

According to NATO officials, Hungary is expected to follow suit if Turkey decides to lift its objections to Sweden's candidacy.