"In substance itself there was not that much progress, but, surely, we have to be satisfied that the discussion is now open," he told a news conference following a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. "I wouldn’t like to give exact dates, but it is possible that we are not going to do it by September."
"That was a progress to have a possibility of meeting together that took quite a lot of time [to organize]. But nevertheless, the negotiations are now open, and they have also agreed that they will continue," Niinisto said.
Sweden, Finland and Turkiye held talks at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday to discuss the Nordic countries’ membership bids and Turkey’s security concerns. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the talks were "constructive", while Turkiye had "legitimate" concerns over terrorism.