Five prime ministers, a president and a NATO leader will meet in Catshuis on Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming Atlantic alliance summit. Prime Minister Mark Rutte arranged the meeting with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen.

Romanian President Klaus Johannis, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Kari, among others, will join Catshuis, according to BNR reporter Sophie van Leeuwen. “This initiative is intended to gather with all the countries of the NATO region on the eastern border with Russia and the southern border of Europe to determine how to continue this Russian aggression.”

But, according to Van Leeuwen, there is much more to be discussed. ‘They also want to introduce a new strategic concept, something that has been around since 2010 and therefore needs to be updated. And, of course, the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, which is something Turkey is very much against.’

Kurdish people

According to SP MP Jasper van Dijk, the reason why Turkey is an obstacle to accession is mainly because of the way Sweden and Finland think about the situation with the Kurds. “I can’t say if there will be a breakthrough at the Catshuis tonight,” said Van Dijk. “But Turkey has made it clear that they believe that Sweden and Finland can only join if they support a certain approach towards the Kurds in their country. Erdogan is not very enthusiastic about the Kurds, and he wants to do the same in Sweden and Finland.’

Van Dijk was backed by VVD MP Ruben Brekelmans, who was also not expecting a breakthrough. “Tonight’s six-nation meeting does not intersect – throughout NATO there is agreement that Sweden and Finland can join. Only Turkey is interfering, and he is not there tonight.’

Brekelmans considers it important that the Netherlands play a leading role in these discussions. ‘The fact that Rutte only sent out invitations last week and that countries are queuing – just like the Secretary General of NATO – to attend, shows that we as a country play an important role in NATO. .’

Line

Although Turkey has the power to end accession, according to Brekelmans this will not happen any time soon. ‘In theory it’s possible, but I don’t think Turkey is prepared to pay so much diplomatic capital and continue to hinder this. This is not something that only European NATO countries, but also the United States and Britain want. Geopolitically powerful countries. It seems impossible to me that Turkey will create its own blockade and stick to it.’