US ambassador to Nato hopes Sweden will join alliance before July

Finland will become 31st member of alliance this week but Stockholm's bid is still being delayed by Turkey and Hungary

Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to Nato, attends a press conference at alliance headquarters in Brussels. EPA

US ambassador to Nato Julianne Smith on Monday said that she hoped Sweden would join the alliance before its next meeting, which will take place in July in Lithuania.

The US diplomat made her remarks shortly after it was confirmed that Finland would officially become the 31st member of Nato during a flag-raising ceremony at the alliance's Brussels headquarters on Tuesday.

The event, which will coincide with Nato’s 74th anniversary, will take place on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers.

“It’ll be emotional to see that flag go up the flagpole tomorrow,” said Ms Smith. “We’re all looking forward to it.”

Turkey approved Finland's membership bid last Thursday — the last hurdle to it entering the alliance.

Finland and Sweden had initially hoped to rapidly join Nato together after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year prompted them to break with decades of non-alignment.

But Sweden’s application has been delayed by Turkey and Hungary.

While Turkey has blocked Sweden's bid over its perceived failure to crack down on Kurdish groups accused of terrorism by Ankara, the reasons behind Hungary’s opposition have been more cryptic.

“Hungary has been, I think, a little bit more private in some of the conversations it is having with both aspirant countries,” said Ms Smith.

A Hungarian government representative last week said that the reason the country was holding up Sweden’s admission was because of “grievances” linked to Stockholm’s criticisms of policies enacted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

His policies have caused concern in Brussels, where the EU has withheld funds, citing corruption and lack of judicial independence.

Hungary’s repeated vetoing of decision-making procedures both at Nato and the EU level has caused frustration among diplomats, who have expressed hopes that, if Turkey approves Sweden's request to join Nato, Budapest will follow suit.

Turkish, Swedish and Finnish officials have met frequently over the past several months to discuss Turkey’s demands.

To please Turkey, Sweden has tightened its laws against membership in terrorist organisations. The new laws will come into force in June.

But Turkey still says that Sweden is not doing enough and discussions seem to have reached an impasse.

All eyes are now on Turkey's May presidential election.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said that discussions had been relaunched after he met Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in person last month in Ankara.

Turkish and Swedish officials will hold an informal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ministers will also discuss military support for Ukraine during the meeting, which will be attended by Ukrainian Defence Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Nato’s Indo-Pacific partners — Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea — are scheduled to attend talks to discuss China, which is viewed with suspicion in Europe for expressing support for Russia.

“The provision of lethal aid from China to Russia would be a lethal mistake,” warned Mr Stoltenberg on Monday.

Ministers on Wednesday will review their defence and investment pledge, which was created in 2014 and aims to encourage members to spend at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence.

The figure of 2 per cent should be “a floor, not a ceiling”, Mr Stoltenberg said.

He was echoed by Ms Smith, who welcomed the “really incredible efforts” made by some alliance members in the past eight years to reach that target.

“I think we’re going to see close to about two thirds of the allies hit the target, which would be remarkable,” she said.

“We salute countries like Poland that have already taken national decisions to stretch beyond the 2 per cent.”

The leader of Poland’s ruling political party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, in July said that his country, which spends 2.2 per cent of its GDP on defence, aims to bring that figure up to 5 per cent, but did not give a specific deadline.

That would be the highest ratio among Nato allies, including the US.

But Poland’s commitment to defence expenditures is an exception and not the rule.

“We will continue pressing those allies that are not quite there yet to accelerate their plans,” said Ms Smith.