STOCKHOLM. NATO Secretary General arrived in Sweden yesterday. Jens Stoltenbergto take part in today’s meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which will be attended by EU Foreign and Defense Ministers.

The head of NATO met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Christersonwith whom he discussed the next steps in the country’s accession to the Alliance. Yesterday, Mr. Stoltenberg had a meeting with the leaders of most parliamentary parties, while the leadership of the Greens and the left party refused the invitation.

At the same time, a delegation of Hungarian parliamentarians who visited Sweden yesterday, after a meeting with the chairman of the Swedish parliament, declared their support for Stockholm’s candidacy for NATO. Although Hungary With Turkey resist Sweden’s request to join the Alliance, a Hungarian parliamentary delegation hinted that the Budapest parliament would approve Sweden’s NATO membership.

Hungarian parliamentarians objected to the participation of Sweden and Finland in the Alliance, citing the “outright lies” of Stockholm and Helsinki about the undermining of democratic institutions by the Orban government in Budapest.

“We made it clear to our interlocutors that the Hungarian government, the president, the prime minister and the majority of parliamentarians support Sweden’s NATO membership,” said Zamba Hede, deputy speaker of the Budapest parliament. According to Aron Emilsson, chairman of the Swedish parliamentary foreign affairs committee, the Hungarian delegation did not put any conditions on the Swedish request. “We talked about strengthening and improving bilateral relations and mutual understanding of our constitutional traditions,” Emilsson told Swedish Radio.

At the same time, a new anti-terrorism law was expected to be passed by the Swedish parliament yesterday. According to the Swedish press, the new law will be directed against financing, aiding and spreading terrorist organizations. Traveling abroad to join or assist a terrorist organization will be considered a criminal offense, the law will come into force on June 1.

Ankara has made it a condition of approving Sweden’s membership to take action against the Kurdish separatist organization PKK, as well as the organization of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Erdoğan regime credits as the mastermind behind Turkey’s failed 2016 coup.

At the end of January, Ankara canceled a planned trilateral meeting of Turkey, Sweden and Finland on the integration of the Nordic countries into NATO due to the inaction of the Swedish authorities in burning the Koran at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm by Danish far-right activist Rasmus Palundan.

Negotiations in Brussels

Negotiations are expected to continue tomorrow Thursday in Brussels with the participation of representatives from Sweden, Finland and Turkey. “Negotiations and diplomatic exchanges are positive elements. But I don’t think they will change anything. Turkish objections will be difficult to overcome,” says Kale Håkansson, professor of political science at the Swedish Diplomatic Institute.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu recently praised Sweden for amending its anti-terrorism legislation, but stressed that Ankara expects significant initiatives in this regard. “We are happy to hear about the Swedish commitment, but at this time we cannot give the green light to Sweden’s entry into NATO until we see significant counter-terrorism initiatives.

Everyone can clearly see that Sweden is not fulfilling its obligations,” said Cavusoglu, according to a report in the pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah. In November, the Swedish parliament passed a new anti-terrorism law that Ankara called insufficient, forcing Stockholm to submit a new version of the bill, which was due to be voted on yesterday.