Sweden will toughen the anti-terrorist law in full tension with Turkey over accession to NATO

MADRID, 2 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government of Sweden has presented this Thursday a bill that plans to toughen anti-terrorism legislation and criminalize links with terrorist organizations in the midst of an increase in tension with Turkey over the country's access to NATO.

The Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strommer, has indicated that the proposal includes criminalizing "being part of terrorist groups", although until now the law criminalized only the commission of terrorist acts.

With this measure, the Swedish authorities seek to comply with Ankara's demands after the agreement reached trilaterally with Finland during the NATO summit held in Madrid in June.

Strommer has stressed that it is a "significant expansion" in legal terms. "The Government believes that there is a need to classify these issues. We need to rise up strongly against terrorist threats and the terrorists themselves," he pointed out during a press conference, according to information from the newspaper 'Dagens Nyheter'.

"My strong opinion on the agreement that exists between Sweden, Finland and Turkey is very clear. (...) When we introduce a powerful tool in legislation, we have completely different measures at our disposal," he asserted.

The new legal text includes as crimes "organizing meetings considered terrorist and being in possession of material considered as such", among other issues. The bill will be presented to Parliament next March with a view to its entry into force in June. However, for it to enter into force it is necessary to amend the Constitution.

Since submitting their official membership application in May 2022 at the height of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland have sought Turkish approval to join the bloc. However, Ankara has asked for a series of guarantees, especially from Sweden, related precisely to dissidents and alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Thus, he has accused the country of "giving shelter to terrorists."

Over the last month, public opinion's support for Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists has increased, which has caused an increase in tension between the two countries, something that seems to jeopardize the talks. The situation has even led the Finnish government to put on the table the possibility of going ahead with the accession process without Sweden.

Stockholm, for its part, insists that it has fulfilled all the commitments signed in said pact, but Ankara warns that, as things are, the Swedish government cannot "wait" for the final endorsement of Swedish adhesion.