H.E. Mr. Magnus Ryd?n:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. To comment on the rule of law first, of course, we fully support the rule of law and the use of all available tools in the European Union. We will continue the Council’s country-specific discussions in the rule of law dialogue that is ongoing at the Council. That is an important instrument. Another instrument is the Article 7 procedures the Deputy mentioned and we will continue them, together with the Commission. As I stated, we also have the Commission’s report, which is encouraging when it comes to the rule of law. In addition, we welcome the decision in December 2022 in accordance with the conditionality regulation regarding Hungary. The Swedish Presidency is prepared to handle any issues that may arise in the Council following the decision in December. Those are some of the instruments on which we are working.

On enlargement, I echo what I stated in respect of the western Balkans. I thank the Deputy for noting that. We will work to enhance the enlargement process in the European Union, including in the western Balkans.

Finally, on Turkey, as the Deputy stated, this is not a matter for the EU Presidency itself. We applied for NATO membership last year, along with Finland. Together with Turkey, Finland and Sweden, we had an agreement last summer from the NATO meeting in Madrid. Since then, 28 of 30 EU countries have ratified the Swedish and Finnish accession process. We now continue that work, together with Finland, going forward.