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A police car behind a barrier in Vetlanda: A man had injured several people with a knife here in 2021, the suspicion of an act of terrorism was not confirmed

Photo: Mikael Fritzon / dpa

It is supposed to be a crucial building block on the way to NATO: New terror laws have come into force in Sweden. From now on, it will be a criminal offence in the Scandinavian EU country to participate in, finance or otherwise support a terrorist organisation. Violations can result in several years in prison.

"The legislation that is now coming into force will give Sweden new and effective tools to prosecute those who support terrorism," Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote in advance in the Financial Times. A loophole in Sweden's anti-terrorism laws will be closed.

Finland already a NATO member

Ultimately, however, Kristersson is counting on the fact that the stricter legislation can solve Turkey's blockade of Sweden's accession to NATO. Sweden and Finland had applied for membership in the Western defense alliance in May 2022 before the impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Finland became the 31st NATO member at the beginning of April. Sweden, on the other hand, still lacks ratification by Turkey and Hungary.

Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum in June 2022 in which the Nordic countries responded to Turkey's objections to their NATO admissions. However, the Turkish leadership continues to block Sweden's accession, justifying this attitude primarily by saying that Sweden is doing too little against "terrorist organizations". She is primarily concerned with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

With the new terror legislation, Sweden fulfills the last part of the agreement, Kristersson wrote in the FT. Sweden fully supports Turkey against all threats to its national security and condemns all terrorist organizations, including the PKK, that carry out attacks against it."

A few weeks before the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, it is now time to seriously examine Sweden's membership application, Kristersson demanded. Ultimately, it would be of no use to anyone except Russian President Vladimir Putin if Sweden remained outside NATO.

aeh/dpa