Sweden is stuck in the blockade by Turkey on its way to NATO. This accuses the country of a lack of action against terrorism. Stockholm wants to solve the blockade with new terror laws.
It is said to be a crucial building block on the bumpy road to NATO: new terror laws came into force in Sweden on Thursday. From now on it is punishable in the Scandinavian EU country to participate in a terrorist organization, to finance or otherwise support such participation. Violations can result in several years of imprisonment.
“The legislation now coming into force will give Sweden new and effective tools to prosecute those who support terrorism,” conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote in an opinion piece in the Financial Times. A loophole in Swedish anti-terror laws will be closed.
Stricter legislation
Ultimately, however, Kristersson is counting on the fact that the stricter legislation can solve the Turkish blockade of Sweden’s NATO accession. Sweden and Finland had applied for membership in the Western Defense Alliance in May 2022 before the impact of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Finland was admitted as the 31st NATO member at the beginning of April. Sweden, on the other hand, has still not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum in June 2022 in which the Nordic countries addressed Turkish objections to their NATO membership. However, the Turkish leadership continues to block Sweden’s accession, citing the fact that Sweden is doing too little against “terrorist organizations” as the main justification for this stance. Her main concern is the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK.
Sweden fulfills the last part of the agreement
With the new terror legislation, Sweden is fulfilling the last part of the agreement, Kristersson wrote in the “FT”. “Sweden fully supports Turkey against all threats to its national security and condemns all terrorist organizations, including the PKK, which launch attacks against it.”
With just a few weeks to go before the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, Kristersson said it was time to seriously consider Sweden’s membership application. Ultimately, nobody but Russian President Vladimir Putin would benefit if Sweden stayed outside of NATO.
Source: Stern
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