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Madrid Summit Not a Deadline for Decision on Finland and Sweden’s NATO Bids, Says Turkey

Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022. (AFP)
Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022. (AFP)
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Madrid Summit Not a Deadline for Decision on Finland and Sweden’s NATO Bids, Says Turkey

Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022. (AFP)
Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022. (AFP)

A NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June is not a deadline for a decision on Sweden and Finland's membership bids, which are opposed by Turkey, the Turkish president's spokesman said on Saturday.

Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western defense alliance last month in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but their bids have faced resistance from Turkey, which has accused them of supporting Kurdish militants.

While the two Nordic countries have said talks would continue to resolve the dispute, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara had not received any responses to its demands, including stopping support for groups Turkey considers terrorists, lifting arms embargoes on Ankara and extraditing suspects it seeks.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency during a visit to Madrid, Erdogan's spokesman and chief foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin repeated that progress on the membership bids hinged on how Sweden and Finland respond to Turkish demands.

"We don't see ourselves in a time constraint like the NATO summit," Kalin was cited as saying, adding that while the summit was important in addressing common issues like Russia's invasion of Ukraine and cooperation within the alliance, potential allies have to take steps to alleviate concerns of current members.

"We don't feel like we are under any time pressure like 'let us get this done by the NATO summit'. What is important here is that Sweden and Finland openly, clearly and concretely put forth what kind of steps they will take regarding counter-terrorism," he added.

Any bid to join NATO requires backing from each of its 30 members. Turkey, which has been a NATO ally for over 70 years, has said it will not change its view unless the Nordic countries take "concrete steps" about its concerns.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Washington this week that he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in coming days to discuss the issue. NATO leaders will convene on June 29-30 in Madrid.

Earlier, Erdogan said NATO was not an organization that could provide protection from terror, citing demonstrations and events organized by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group in allied countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece, whose envoy to Ankara was summoned over the issue on Friday.

He said Ankara would not "fall for the same mistake" while PKK members "roam free" in Finland and Sweden.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

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France Has a New Government, Again. Politics and Crushing Debt Complicate Next Steps

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
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France Has a New Government, Again. Politics and Crushing Debt Complicate Next Steps

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)

France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part.

Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist far right, wars in Europe and the Middle East: Challenges abound for President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after an already tumultuous 2024.

What's wrong with French finances? The most urgent order of business is passing a 2025 budget. Financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission are pushing France to bring down its deficit, to comply with EU rules limiting debt and keep France’s borrowing costs from spiraling. That would threaten the stability and prosperity of all countries that share the euro currency.

France’s debt is currently estimated at a staggering 112% of gross domestic product. It grew further after the government gave aid payments to businesses and workers during COVID-19 lockdowns even as the pandemic depressed growth, and capped household energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. The bill is now coming due.

But France’s previous government collapsed this month because Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and left-wing lawmakers opposed 60 billion euros in spending cuts and tax hikes in the original 2025 budget plan. Bayrou and new Finance Minister Eric Lombard are expected to scale back some of those promises, but the calculations are tough.

“The political situation is difficult. The international situation is dangerous, and the economic context is fragile,” Lombard, a low-profile banker who advised a Socialist government in the 1990s, said upon taking office.

“The environmental emergency, the social emergency, developing our businesses — these innumerable challenges require us to treat our endemic illness: the deficit,” he said. “The more we are indebted, the more the debt costs, and the more it suffocates the country.”

How long will this government last? This is France’s fourth government in the past year. No party has a parliamentary majority and the new Cabinet can only survive with the support of lawmakers on the center-right and center-left.

Le Pen — Macron’s fiercest rival — was instrumental in ousting the previous government by joining left-wing forces in a no-confidence vote. Bayrou consulted her when forming the new government and Le Pen remains a powerful force.

That angers left-wing groups, who had expected more influence in the new Cabinet, and who say promised spending cuts will hurt working-class families and small businesses hardest. Left-wing voters, meanwhile, feel betrayed ever since a coalition from the left won the most seats in the summer's snap legislative elections but failed to secure a government.

The possibility of a new no-confidence vote looms, though it's not clear how many parties would support it.

What about Macron? Macron has repeatedly said he will remain president until his term expires in 2027.

But France's constitution and current structure, dating from 1958 and called the Fifth Republic, were designed to ensure stability after a period of turmoil. If this new government collapses within months and the country remains in political paralysis, pressure will mount for Macron to step down and call early elections.

Le Pen's ascendant National Rally is intent on bringing Macron down. But Le Pen faces her own headaches: A March court ruling over alleged illegal party financing could see her barred from running for office.

What else is on the agenda? The National Rally and hard-right Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau want tougher immigration rules. But Bayrou wants to focus on making existing rules work. “There are plenty of (immigration) laws that exist. None is being applied,” he said Monday on broadcaster BFM-TV, to criticism from conservatives.

Military spending is a key issue amid fears about European security and pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump for Europe to spend more on its own defense. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who champions military aid for Ukraine and ramping up weapons production, kept his job and stressed in a statement Tuesday the need to face down “accumulating threats” against France.

More immediately, Macron wants an emergency law in early January to allow sped-up reconstruction of the cyclone-ravaged French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean off Africa. Thousands of people are in emergency shelters and authorities are still counting the dead more than a week after the devastation.

Meanwhile the government in the restive French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia collapsed Tuesday in a wave of resignations by pro-independence figures — another challenge for the new overseas affairs minister, Manuel Valls, and the incoming Cabinet.