The war in Ukraine will be top of mind when leaders from North America and Europe meet in Lithuania. So will the makeup of the alliance itself, as Ukraine and Sweden continue pushing for membership.
Several pressing issues will be front and center when leaders from Europe and North America gather in Vilnius, Lithuania for a key NATO summit this week, including the war in Ukraine and the makeup of the alliance itself.
The meeting, which starts Tuesday, comes amidst Ukraine’s «slower than desired» counteroffensive, as described by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and its renewed bid to join NATO. Members of the alliance agree that Ukraine can join eventually — but not as soon as Zelenskyy had hoped.
After months of urging European leaders to admit Ukraine to NATO, Zelenskyy acknowledged in June that it would be «impossible» for that to happen before the end of the war. President Biden made similar comments this weekend, telling CNN that Ukraine isn’t ready for membership just yet, in part because that would mean NATO countries would be at war with Russia.
«I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO,» Biden said. «But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues.»
Russia’s invasion also prompted two of its northern neighbors, Finland and Sweden, to apply for NATO membership last year.
Finland cleared the requisite hurdles to officially join the alliance in April, making this its first summit as an official member of the alliance. But Turkey (and, to a lesser degree, Hungary) has been blocking Sweden’s bid over concerns it’s not doing enough to crack down on Kurdish militants and others that Turkey considers terrorist groups.
In a surprise announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Turkey could approve Sweden’s NATO membership if European countries «open the way» for his own country to join the European Union.
«When you pave the way for Turkey, we’ll pave the way for Sweden as we did for Finland,» he told reporters before leaving for Lithuania, according to the Associated Press.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he supports Turkey’s ambition to join the EU, but that it’s not among the conditions that Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed at last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, the AP reports. Sweden has met those conditions, Stoltenberg reiterated, adding that he thinks it is «still possible to have a positive decision» about its membership at this week’s event.
Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Lithuania on Monday that he looks forward to Sweden joining NATO «as soon as possible,» and would meet with the leaders of Turkey and Sweden later in the day as a next step towards that process. And that’s one of many items on the agenda for this week.
«We will strengthen our deterrence and defense, including with more investment,» he said. «We will step up our support for Ukraine, and move Ukraine closer to NATO. And we will work even more closely with partners to support the rules-based international order.
