Swedish foreign minister says country closing in on NATO membership approval

Sweden's foreign minister says his country is inching closer to having its NATO application ratified by one of the military alliance's last holdouts.

Twenty-eight of NATO's 30 current members have ratified both Sweden and Finland's requests for membership since the two Scandinavian countries submitted formal applications in May. Canada was the first to ratify the requests.

But Turkey along with Hungary has yet to approve the bids. The Turkish government has said Sweden in particular needs to crack down on Kurdish and other groups that Ankara considers terrorists.

New NATO memberships must be approved by all current member states.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrm told CBC News Network's Rosemary Barton Live in an interview airing Sunday that the sticking points with Turkey are nearly resolved.

WATCH | Swedish foreign minister discusses NATO bid:

Sweden, Finland NATO ratification held up by Turkey, Hungary approvals

2 years ago

Duration 8:21

Rosemary Barton Live speaks with Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billstrm, in his first Canadian interview about Sweden and Finland's NATO ratification process. Their entry into the military alliance is currently being held up by Turkey and Hungary's approval.

"We are now very close to the moment in time when it is time for the Turkish parliament to start the ratification process," Billstrm told host Rosemary Barton.

Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in June that laid out a path for the Turkish government to sign off on the two applications.

Billstrm said that his country has "thoroughly" upheld its part of that agreement, but he noted that its provisions must fall in line with Sweden's constitution following recent push-back from Turkey.

Pro-Kurdish and anti-NATO groups have complicated matters for the Swedish government by staging anti-Turkey demonstrations that have infuriated the Turkish government, including an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was briefly hung outside Stockholm's city hall earlier this month.

The Turkish government has called for an investigation of the protest, saying it amounted to racism and a hate crime. Prosecutors in Sweden have thus far said they won't open an investigation.

WATCH | Senior adviser to Ukrainian military discusses conflict:

Germany faces mounting pressure to allow for export of tanks to Ukraine

2 years ago

Duration 8:16

Rosemary Barton Live speaks with Dan Rice, special adviser to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, for his assessment of the war and about the mounting pressure on Germany to allow for the export of its Leopard 2 tanks.

On Saturday, Turkey's Defence MinisterHulusi Akarcancelled a visit by his Swedish counterpart scheduled for later in the month, citing what he described as "disgusting" anti-Turkish demonstrations in Sweden.

The meetingno longer held "any importance or point," Akar said.

NATO applications a response to Russia's war on Ukraine

Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The reason why we are so keen to join is because of the deteriorating security situation in our neighbourhood," Billstrm said.

Dan Rice, an American military expert who is currently acting as a special adviser to the head of the Ukrainian forces, said providing security in the region is exactly why NATO was originally formed.

"I think it's an outstanding and great example of NATO coming together to finally fulfilthe mission that it was formed in 1949," Rice told Rosemary Barton Live in a separate interview airing Sunday.

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told CBC News Network's Power & Politics on Thursday that Russia's invasion has strengthened NATO.

"Vladimir Putin was hoping to fracture NATO as a defensive alliance, and instead what we've seen is NATO coming together and two new countries applying to join NATO as a direct response to Russia's attempted invasion of Ukraine," he said.