NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Spanish hosts have granted Turkey a separate block at the NATO summit to discuss Turkey’s security challenges. The hope is that it can help get Turkey to open the NATO door for Sweden and Finland.
Less than 30 minutes ago
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But already on Monday, the day before the summit, the negotiators from Turkey, Sweden and Finland will meet Stoltenberg’s chief of staff Stian Jenssen in Brussels for new talks.
Jenssen confirms this meeting to VG on Sunday night. He also had meetings with them same delegations last Monday.
– Progress has been made in these talks over time, says Stian Jenssen to VG.
In collaboration with Turkey, Sweden and Finland, the NATO summit has over the past couple of weeks worked on a draft agreed document between the three countries. The aim is to address Turkey’s security challenges in such a way that Turkey will open up for the formal processing of applications for NATO membership from Sweden and Finland.
– There are now a few points of disagreement, which we try to resolve in the meeting on Monday, Jenssen says.
Happens Thursday
The session where Turkey will present its security concerns to the other 29 presidents and prime ministers of NATO member countries, will take place on Thursday morning and is the last planned item at the summit, VG is informed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed to the Turkish press before the weekend that there would be such a special session.
– I thank NATO Secretary General and Spain, as host country, for this. And because the issue is also important for Spain, the foreign minister said.
The session will address developments in the Middle East and Africa and how it affects security in NATO’s southern and eastern member states. It will also address the terrorist threat from these neighboring areas to NATO, according to VG’s information.
Agreed top management meeting
A separate physical meeting has also been agreed between the top leaders of the three countries in Madrid during Tuesday, before NATO’s heads of state and government open the meeting with a gala dinner with the Spanish king Felipe.
The meeting will be chaired by Jens Stoltenberg, and he has invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to direct talks, face-to-face with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
This could be a final attempt to get Turkey to let the candidate countries in before the summit formally starts on Wednesday morning.
Three parts
The NATO summit in Madrid is scheduled to take place in three parts:
In the first session on Wednesday morning, the leaders will very first hear a message live and video-transmitted from Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. He was invited to come physically to Madrid, but has agreed to speak on video transmission,
Following the speech, it is thought that the top leaders will clarify between the content of NATO’s future defense plans and the announced strengthening of the defense to the east and to Ukraine, which has come into place after Russia’s invasion. Sweden’s and Finland’s membership applications can also come up here.
In the second session, heads of state and government from NATO’s four Asian partner countries Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will be present – plus partner countries Sweden and Finland. The discussion here is expected to clarify NATO’s final statement on China, which is expected to use strong language and concern about developments in China.
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