Erdogan surprised many on Monday by linking Sweden's bid to join NATO with his country's accession to the EU.
"I was quite surprised he linked this," Maria Demertzis, senior fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told CNBC Tuesday.
The EU deemed that Turkey was putting forward a lot of political reforms that actually moved it "further away" from the bloc.
One of the policy changes that infuriated the EU was a 2017 referendum that gave Erdogan more executive powers.
"He needs money," an EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the topic told CNBC Tuesday, regarding why Erdogan brought up this issue again now.
Persons:
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, aren't, Erdogan, Maria Demertzis, Erdogan's
Organizations:
European Union, NATO, EU, CNBC
Locations:
Turkish, Turkey, Sweden, Brussels, Ankara