At the same time that Sweden is struggling to become a member of NATO, Turkey says it wants to get closer to the European Union. They are, along with Ukraine, one of eight countries nominated for membership in the European Union.
At a NATO meeting in Vilnius in July, Sweden promised to support Turkey in its application for membership. According to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, the European Union should be ready for enlargement in 2030. But according to EU Minister Jessica Roswall, it is not that simple.
-Are we ready? Do we have the capacity to accommodate new members? We don’t really have that yet, we have to have that discussion, It says on the agenda.
The door is open to the European Union
Roswaal says Sweden has always been in favor of the EU having an open door, but countries that become members must meet certain criteria.
When asked whether Turkey had made any changes regarding human rights or freedom of the press, Roswal replied:
All candidate countries that wish to become members must undertake reforms, which is a merit-based process that applies to everyone.
Member states can pay more
According to Goran von Sydow of the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, the issue of enlargement is politically sensitive because all of the candidate countries enjoy “much lower prosperity.”
– This means that if the EU budget is not reformed, a significant amount of resources that now go to many member states will have to be transferred to candidate states, he tells SVT.
He explains that member states may already have to pay more membership fees if nothing changes.
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