Thank you so much for joining us on Bloomberg.
Obviously, it has been a very busy two days.
And yesterday, a celebration for Finland.
Was it your neighbor? I presume you're happy about that move,
but for your country, obviously. Well, a true bittersweet is is the way
to describe it. But obviously you wanted to join
together and now it's obvious that's not going to happen.
How do you perceive it? And are you more upbeat now that your
future is getting closer to NATO? Maybe slower, but getting closer?
Well, first, I would like to underline that we, of course, very happy for
Finland because we believe that it is a good thing for both in them and for
Sweden that they are joining NATO. Obviously, we would like to join
together. But since that cannot be the case due to
other other reasons and other powers, that's not Sweden and Finland and our
governments. We are just arranging things as as they
come along. And now we are doing it the following
the way we are. As you quite rightly said, we have high
hopes for us becoming members in the period from now up to this summit in
Vilnius in NATO. And obviously yesterday both Finland and
the NATO secretary general said the Nordic security will not be complete
until your end. So they obviously won you in as soon as
possible. But I wonder, with countries like
Turkey, I mean, let's be very frank. A lot of the issues are obviously
stemming from that. Are you more optimistic based on the
meetings you've had here? The feedback perhaps you've been able to
exchange on a one to one basis that you understand yourself maybe better now?
Well, all states that have taken the floor at the meetings here, all the NATO
allied member states have spoken in favor of NATO, of Sweden becoming a
member in NATO as soon as possible. And that's very heartening.
That's very strengthening for me as foreign minister and representative of
the Swedish government to know that this is the case.
However, of course, we've also believe that we have committed ourselves to
fulfilling the memorandum that was signed during the last NATO summit in
Madrid. We have fulfilled all the obligations we
undertook. And now it is time for the Turkish
parliament to stop the ratification, which has also been said by a lot of
allied member states. During the meeting here in Brussels
today. So you feel like when it comes to
Turkey, what you had to do or felt that you needed to do?
You have done. Yes.
I mean, the memorandum has been very clear and the undertakings that Sweden
and also Finland committed ourselves to do, we have done our part of the job.
Now it is time for the Turkish parliament to start ratification.
Obviously, we understand that there is now a an election process under
undergoing it in Turkey. But from a practical point of view,
everything is done. It is only one more thing that remains,
and that is the piece of labor legislation on fight on will enter into
force on the 1st of June. This is the last building block.
But after that, there is no more deliverables.
And it is time for Turkey to deliver its commitment and it's time for Turkey to
deliver. I also wonder, when it comes to Hungary,
there's a there's some confusion there as to what is the issue now.
Some suggesting that perhaps this is a cynical move by Hungary, that maybe they
spotted an opportunity to get something that is unrelated to NATO is entirely
about European politics and they're using Sweden.
And I'm sorry to be so frank with this expression, but almost as a tool back
and forth here. Is that what you feel?
And what's your message to Hungary? Because the NATO secretary general,
again, was very clear. Sweden has to join us soon as possible.
Well, my message would be has crystal clear, as well as the secretary
generals, namely, that the Hungarian parliament should also ratify Sweden's
application because there are no outstanding issues, there are no special
memorandums, as has been the case with Turkey in relation to Hungary.
So frankly speaking, and there is simply to put this very simply, I don't
understand the reason why there is no ratification forthcoming from Budapest
at this moment. There should be.
And you're not alone. Many do not.
And again, feel like this is a political move.
Did you make that clear to your Hungarian counterpart?
There is no substantial reason to do this.
Yes. Did he understand it?
I don't know. Do you hope he understood it?
Yes, I do. Well, and obviously, that is what your
country is also hoping on a bigger scale.
Let me just ask you a final question, however.
There has been a lot of debate, too, about China and potentially the role
that it may play. Obviously, at this point, it's clear
that Russia does not want to leave Ukraine, that they still want to fight.
And the Ukrainians have made it clear they're not going to surrender to Russia
in any way at this point. What about China?
Some believe you have potential mediator.
Another what's the or other voices that this is being completely naive.
This country's not interested in helping anyone except for itself.
Well, yes, there is a lot of uncertainties around the peace plan
being brought forward by by Beijing. But is it a peace plan?
Would you call it a peace plan? Some say it's not even a peace plan.
No, I'm using the expression used by Beijing.
But again, this has been a common expression.
I, for my part, believe that we should stand behind Ukraine and the plan being
brought forward by President Selenski. And I think that we should have we
should rely on the goodwill of Ukraine, because, after all, Ukraine is the one
who has been offended. It is Russia's aggression or aggression
against Ukraine that is on the table here.
And we should we should face that down or we should really be.
Yeah, from both the NATO and also from the EU and from the entire global
family. The Russia's aggression against Ukraine
goes against everything the UN Charter stands for.
It is an old fashioned colonial imperial war directed against Ukraine.
And this is something which all should stand up in favor of Ukraine against
Russia. And just very briefly, if I understand
it correctly, what you say is that perhaps more attention should be paid to
the landscape's plan than any proposal from China.
And I wonder. Overall, we put everything together.
Is that the reason why China has not called Ukraine?
Because you're actually not really interested in brokering a deal here.
I think that one of the most interesting things coming out of a meeting here
today in Brussels is the observation that many people have done.
But at the same day as precedent seeing Ping visited President Putin in Moscow,
the the Japanese prime minister visited President Selenski in Kiev.
That I think it goes without saying that this was a very, very strong message of
how many of the countries of the Indo-Pacific fears about the aggression
of Russia towards Ukraine and where they stand.
And it is a good thing that we had this Indo-Pacific meeting, this Indo-Pacific
session of the NATO summit here. Sweden is, as the EU presidency, going
to host an Indo-Pacific ministerial meeting together with EU foreign
ministers on the 13th of May in Stockholm.
And we look forward to have the same kind of invigorating debates and
discussions as we have had today here in Brussels.