Haavisto

Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in Bucharest, Romania, November 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/Robert Ghement

"A time-out is needed before we return to the three-way talks and see where we are when the dust has settled after the current situation, so no conclusions should be drawn yet," Haavisto told Reuters.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in an interview with Yle (Finland's national public broadcasting company) published on Tuesday that his country may seek to join NATO without Sweden if Stockholm's bid is take more time to be approved.

Finland will host a meeting with Sweden and Türkiye later this month, the Finnish foreign minister said on Aug. 19, after Ankara voiced its opposition to the Nordic countries' NATO bids.

"Representatives of Finland, Sweden and Türkiye will meet in Finland in August," Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters.

Finland's foreign minister said on Friday his EU colleagues were increasingly hopeful they could eventually move towards membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania, though he gave no timeline.