SWEDEN and US officials reiterated their ambitious goal to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by July.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström still hopes the Scandinavian country will be a member of NATO by the time the military alliance holds its next summit in Lithuania.
According to Billström, Sweden has no “Plan B” or any other option but to be a part of NATO, and its full membership is exactly what the government is working on until the start of the summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
“There isn’t going to be any plan B or anything like that. Plan B is plan A — that is full membership in NATO and that is what I and the government are going to work for all the way to Vilnius,” said Tobias Billström, Swedish Foreign Minister.
The two-day NATO summit is set to take place in the Lithuanian capital from July 11 to 12, 2023.
Finland and Sweden last year ditched long-held policies of military non-alignment and decided to apply for NATO membership as a result of the war in Ukraine.
On April 4, Finland made history after it officially became the 31st member of NATO.
Sweden on the other hand continues to face objections from Hungary and Turkiye.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said the relationship between Hungary and Sweden must improve before the Nordic state can join NATO.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to push Turkiye and Hungary in ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO during an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Norway this week.
Sweden’s NATO membership remains hanging in the balance as incumbent Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled Turkiye for the past 20 years, secured another five years in office during the second round of the election held on Sunday.
