Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Doubts Finland, Sweden Will Be Admitted to NATO in June

WARSAW (Sputnik) - Finland and Sweden will not be admitted to NATO at the next alliance's summit in Madrid in late June, since each country needs first to undergo certain reforms to meet the alliance's security standards, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Friday.

"I think Madrid is too early. If we are talking about the admission of new members to NATO, it is a much longer process that requires processes in individual states. It is not that quick or that easy. It will take at least several months," Jablonski told Polish radio RMF FM.

According to the Polish diplomat, Turkey will eventually agree to Finland and Sweden joining NATO and will not block the process.

"I believe that eventually no [Turkey will not block the candidacy of Finland and Sweden], although it [Ankara] will definitely put forward certain conditions, and they have already been formulated. Nevertheless, negotiations are ongoing, I think they will result in us having two more NATO members in the short term," Jablonski added.

On 18 May, Sweden and Finland submitted their NATO membership applications to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, abandoning decades of neutrality and citing a shift in the security situation in Europe caused by the Ukraine crisis. Turkey blocked the applications' review process due to the countries support of the Kurdistan movement, which Turkey regards as terrorist and deems as a serious threat to its national security.

Helsinki and Stockholm have initiated talks with Ankara on the issue, but they have not yielded fruit yet. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed the need for a written undertaking from Finland and Sweden that they will stop supporting terrorism.