Stockholm hopes it has cleared a major hurdle to NATO membership. A new terror law will come into force on Thursday with which the Scandinavian country hopes to convince Turkey to give it the green light. That country is the only one that is still genuinely against the admission of Sweden into the alliance.
Decisive step
“Turkey has been saying for almost a year that Sweden should do more against terrorism,” says Jeroen Visser from Sweden. ‘This new law makes it a criminal offense if you help terrorist movements, for example with funding, logistics or accommodation. There was no such law before. It could be the decisive step for Turkey’.
Now that Erdogan has been re-elected, something could start to move, Visser thinks. This is the moment everyone has been waiting for for months. “The idea that Erdogan was doing all this for his own political gain on the way to the elections grew stronger and stronger.”
Increase pressure
Now that these are behind us, according to Viser, you can see that all NATO countries are rapidly ramping up the pressure. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Ankara soon. And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Scandinavia. “Now it has to happen. Preferably this summer.’
“There’s been a bit of discouragement lately. Especially when Finland joined and Sweden fell behind. But now there’s enthusiasm again’
This atmosphere also prevails in Sweden. “There’s been a certain amount of despondency lately,” Visser says. ‘Especially when Finland joined and Sweden fell behind. But now there’s enthusiasm again.”