Hungarian FM-If Turkey Approves Sweden Bid We Will Not Delay Ratification

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó states that he has talked with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in the past few days, and reiterates that 'if there is a shift in Turkey's stance on Sweden's NATO membership ratification then Hungary will keep its promise of not delaying ratification.' The comments are more upbeat that those from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who on 3 July seemed to pour cold water on the prospect of ratification any time soon following protests in Stockholm that saw copies of the Quran burned in public.

• Erdogan: "Everyone should acknowledge that [Sweden] cannot form a friendship with Turkey by allowing terrorists to demonstrate in the most central squares of their cities...Our position, expectations and promises that were made have been all clear. At the moment, we defend the same principles that we defended last year. We just want them to remain faithful to what they signed,"
• The foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland and Turkey are due to hold talks on Thursday 6 July in an effort to reach an agreement. Finland is already a full NATO member.
• The continued delay to Sweden's ratification remains a sore point within NATO, risking unity within the group at a crucial time for European security outlook given the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive.