Sweden's membership in NATO could be approved by the Foreign Affairs Commission of the parliament as a declaration of intent, the report said. However, the intensification of rapprochement between Turkiye and the EU depended not so much on Sweden, but on Germany and France, it added.
Germany and France support Sweden joining NATO with the United States pushing for it, and will readily satisfy some of Turkiye's requests, the newspaper said. However, if Turkiye does not allow Sweden to join, these two countries will take steps so that Sweden could join as soon as possible, media said. While Turkiye's immediate accession to the EU is out of the question, Paris and Berlin do not want to make Sweden wait for a long time, according to the report.
On July 10, on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden would be able to join NATO after Turkiye is admitted to the European Union. Later that day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Erdogan agreed to send documents to ratify Sweden's NATO membership application to Turkish parliament "as soon as possible," and Stockholm promised Ankara to facilitate its path to the EU.
Sweden, along with Finland, submitted its NATO application in May 2022.