Spain’s King meets with Finnish president following Turkey agreement

Madrid, Jun 29 (EFE).- Spain’s King Felipe VI met on Wednesday with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö after Finland and Sweden reached an agreement with Turkey that paved the way for their accession to Nato.

Niinistö met with King Felipe at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid during a side event on the first day of a Nato summit being held in the Spanish capital.

The meeting comes a day after the Finnish leader, Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg signed a consensus to allow the Nordic countries to join the Alliance.

The Nordics’ accession into Nato had been previously blocked by Turkey which has lifted its veto after Stockholm and Helsinki agreed to address its concerns over Kurdish guerilla fighters who have sought refuge in Sweden and Finland which Ankara considers terrorists.

Before meeting with Niinistö, Felipe met with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, at the Zarzuela Palace.

Spain is hosting what has widely been described as a historic summit for Nato in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. EFE

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