France urges Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden's Nato membership
France's foreign minister urged Turkey and Hungary to deliver on their pledges to come through on Sweden's stalled Nato application.
Hungary and Turkey in July lifted their vetoes against Sweden's entry into the Atlantic alliance, but have been slow to ratify its membership.
"We would like to see Sweden in Nato and we would like to see Turkey and Hungary delivering on what they agreed," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters in Helsinki.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week said that ratifying Sweden's Nato bid was not "urgent", accusing the Nordic country of having challenged the country's "democratic nature".
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated in July that ratification by the Turkish parliament would not take place before October.
KEY POINTS:
For months, Erdogan has been putting pressure on Sweden to take action against the Quran desecrations that have strained relations between the two countries, as well as wanting Sweden to deliver more on combating Kurdish activists Turkey regards as terrorists.
Another issue complicating matters is the fact that the Turkish government wants to buy F16 jets from the US, but the American congress is holding off on approving the sale until Turkey has approved Sweden's membership, which has led to deadlock.
Finland became Nato's 31st member country in April, after three decades of military non-alignment and in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
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Hungary and Turkey in July lifted their vetoes against Sweden's entry into the Atlantic alliance, but have been slow to ratify its membership.
"We would like to see Sweden in Nato and we would like to see Turkey and Hungary delivering on what they agreed," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters in Helsinki.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week said that ratifying Sweden's Nato bid was not "urgent", accusing the Nordic country of having challenged the country's "democratic nature".
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated in July that ratification by the Turkish parliament would not take place before October.
KEY POINTS:
For months, Erdogan has been putting pressure on Sweden to take action against the Quran desecrations that have strained relations between the two countries, as well as wanting Sweden to deliver more on combating Kurdish activists Turkey regards as terrorists.
Another issue complicating matters is the fact that the Turkish government wants to buy F16 jets from the US, but the American congress is holding off on approving the sale until Turkey has approved Sweden's membership, which has led to deadlock.
Finland became Nato's 31st member country in April, after three decades of military non-alignment and in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
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