What is NATO’s “open door” policy and how will Sweden or Finland join?
What is NATO’s open door policy? On Wednesday, the Swedish and Finnish prime ministers held a joint press conference in Stockholm and announced that the decision on whether the countries would join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would come. “within a few weeks.”
The two countries, which have maintained positions of neutrality in military conflicts that lasted during the Cold War, are closer than ever to joining the Western military organization – a move that would upset Russia and cause “retaliation measures.”
With a general mood that now benefits the two countries that join NATO – with a survey showing 53% of Finnish citizens support membership and another display six out of ten Swedish citizens also support membership – Russia may soon be forced to follow up on threats against the two countries to prevent them from allying with the West.
The “open door” policy is explained
Article 10 of NATO’s founding document, the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949, describes an “open door policy” that welcomes any European state that is “in a position to promote principles” in the Treaty will be welcome to contribute to security in the North Atlantic. To officially join the military organization, however, a candidate country must have the unanimous support of other NATO counties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long opposed this open-door policy and issued an ultimatum to the United States and NATO allies ahead of the invasion of Ukraine, to seek assurances that Ukraine would not be allowed to join the organization.
Before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine – a European country – did not think about join NATO. Since the invasion and destruction of most of Ukraine’s major urban centers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated that his country will not join the Western military alliance.
How Sweden and Finland can join
Should the Swedish and Finnish governments announce their intentions to seek NATO membership – and a decision is likely to be the same for both countries – they will first invited to participate in an “Intensified Dialogue” with members of the NATO Alliance to talk about their ambitions and any proposed reforms of the organization that they may have in mind.
After a period of dialogue, candidate nations are invited to join the Membership Action Plan where they will be prepared for future membership. At this stage, however, membership is still not guaranteed.
In order to join NATO, both Sweden and Finland will need to meet a number of criteria relating to their political systems, economies and military, as shown by the 1995 study on enlargement. Sweden and Finland must prove that they are democratic political systems with a market economy, respect for human rights and a willingness to resolve conflicts diplomatically.
At present, there is nothing that stands in the way of either Sweden or Finland in terms of eligibility for NATO membership.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher and journalist based in New York. He reports on Britain, Europe and the United States, working to analyze and understand left- and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to current issues. His books and research articles explore these themes and suggest pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.