UK will continue to push for speedy Sweden accession to NATO - Cleverly

Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly leaves 10 Downing Street after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London, United Kingdom on January 10, 2023 [Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency]

Britain will continue to push for the speedy conclusion of Sweden’s accession to NATO, British Foreign Minister, James Cleverly, said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

“We will continue to push for the speedy completion of your accession process,” Cleverly said at a press conference, standing alongside his Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billstrom, during a visit to Sweden.

“Sweden must and shall join NATO, and should do so as soon as possible.”

Sweden applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, but ratification of its membership has been held up by Turkiye and Hungary.

Asked whether Britain had spoken to Turkiye about its position, Cleverly said he has spoken with his counterpart there and made Britain’s position clear.

“It’s in Turkiye’s interest that Sweden becomes a member of the alliance and does so quickly,” he added.

READ: EXPLAINER – Turkiye keeps Sweden waiting on NATO membership as key summit nears

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.