In a surprise move, Turkey on Monday dropped its objections to Sweden’s bid to join NATO, opening the way just hours ahead of a major NATO summit in Lithuania for the alliance to move forward with its second historic expansion in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
President Biden swiftly praised the development, which is likely over the coming months to see Sweden become NATO’s 32nd member nation, following Finland, which officially became a member in April. The decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also removes what could have been a major divisive issue as the alliance tries to coordinate its response to the Russian war in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine — and Kyiv’s hopes to one day join the Western alliance — are expected to dominate the summit that officially begins Tuesday, although a slate of other tricky issues will also be discussed, including whether an emboldened NATO should have its sights more broadly set on countering warming ties between Russia and China, as well as threats from Iran and even North Korea.
However, several members, including the United States, are openly arming and training Ukraine’s military to push Russian forces out of the country. And, officials say this week’s summit in Vilnius is likely to feature the official creation of a new “NATO-Ukraine Council.” In response, Sweden changed its anti-terror laws and lifted an arms embargo that it had in place on Turkey. But Mr. Erdogan had continued to hold out, with analysts saying the Turkish leader sought to use the Sweden issue to gain leverage over other powerful NATO members — most notably the United States — who’ve eagerly backed Swedish ascension.
Mr. Biden then issued a statement saying he welcomed “the commitment by President Erdogan to transmit the Accession Protocol for Sweden to Turkey’s Grand National Assembly for swift ratification.” NATO leaders agreed as a whole in 2014 that 2024 would be the deadline for each member nation to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense annually. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inspired spikes in spending overall, several members remain under the 2% threshold.
“I don’t think [Ukraine] is ready for membership in NATO,” Mr. Biden told CNN in an interview that aired on Sunday. He said joining NATO requires countries to “meet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues.” But the alliance today is also operating in “a very different world, where Moscow is just one challenge of many,” Mr. Theil wrote in a recent analysis for the publication. “As allies of Russia, China and Iran now impact European security directly; NATO, in turn, is eyeing new threats to the east.”
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