Sweden's foreign minister said on Thursday he was no longer sure his country would be able to join NATO by July, after fresh signs of objections from Hungary.
Sweden applied to join the military alliance after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, but Hungary and fellow NATO member Turkey held off from approving the bid.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said last week that "it goes without saying" Sweden would become a member by the time of a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
But he told TT news agency on Thursday: "I have noted the things that have been said in recent days, especially from Hungary's side, and that means you always have reason to alter your words."
"I think 'hopeful' in this context is better," he added.
A day earlier, a Hungarian government spokesperson said it was holding up Sweden's admission because of "grievances" over Stockholm's past criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's policies.
Ankara has been swarmed by pleas from Swedish, Finnish and NATO officials to greenlight the membership bids of the Nordic countries since they applied to join the bloc last year, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Especially in the past three months, increasing protests targeting Türkiye by members and sympathizers of terrorist groups like the PKK, its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, and FETÖ put stark emphasis on Türkiye’s security concerns.
A trilateral memorandum the sides inked in Madrid last June won Ankara concrete promises it had demanded, especially in counterterrorism laws, terrorist extraditions and the lifting of an arms embargo.
The memorandum envisages Finland and Sweden, as future NATO allies, to show full solidarity and cooperation with Türkiye in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, against all threats to its national security. While Türkiye said Finland has responded to Türkiye's concerns, Turkish officials say Sweden has not taken concrete steps to address its security concerns.
Relations were worsened by a protest in January near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm at which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
Sweden's government has said it takes Türkiye's allegations seriously but added there are some demands, such as extraditing terrorists to Türkiye, that it cannot meet.
Recently, Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said Türkiye has not closed the door on Sweden’s NATO membership if it takes the necessary steps.
