Two-week process on Finland and Sweden seeks NATO membership – VG
COPENHAGEN (VG) NATO has started a process that can bring Sweden and Finland into the defense alliance in a flash – if they apply, as is expected within a short time.
The process between application and a formal invitation from NATO’s 30 member states can be as short as weeks, according to VG’s information.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) confirms to VG in Copenhagen that this time window, between application and decision in NATO, must be as short as possible:
– It’s about not making this longer than necessary, says Støre.
– For our part, we plan for it to be a short treatment time, because no one benefits from it being long, he adds.
Urgent meeting in the Storting
Støre also does not rule out that the Storting may be convened for an extra meeting during the summer to approve the membership:
– It is a clear possibility, says Støre on VG’s question.
On Tuesday this week, the two prime ministers, Magdalena Andersson from Sweden and Sanna Marin from Finland, were in Berlin and met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
After the meeting, the Finnish Prime Minister confirmed that the two discusses security guarantees with a number of major EU countries.
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For weeks
There has been close contact at both political and official level between the NATO countries and the two Nordic countries for a long time, for as long as possible between application and membership.
Diplomatic sources confirm to VG that Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s staff in Brussels, in cooperation with the member states of the NATO Council, are trying to shrink this time window to the maximum.
Invitation first
According to VG’s information, it is intended on the NATO side, you can push your process to just two weeks – the time between a formal application and a formal invitation to membership from the governments of the 30 NATO countries.
It is intended that at this time one must have at least one formal negotiation meeting with each of the candidate countries to clarify the formality of the membership.
Thereafter, the invitation must be approved by the government of all the member states, for it will be formally handed over in a ceremony to the top political leadership in Sweden and Finland.
Will go first
After meetings with Indian and Nordic customers in Copenhagen, Støre says that Norway, Denmark and Iceland want to be first in the line of NATO countries that formally approve Sweden’s and Finland’s membership in NATO,
On behalf of its government, the formal ratification of the membership – which must be done in the form of a decision in the Storting – will take place as soon as possible.
– It can happen before the summer, in the summer or after the summer, says Støre.
After the meeting with the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Støre says that he has been informed about the thorough process:
– Finland is planning its decision in close cooperation with Sweden, the Norwegian Prime Minister said.
Andersson: A Norwegian has the answer
On Wednesday morning, Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told VG in Copenhagen that her government is now in talks with all the parliamentary parties in Sweden about the NATO issue – She also points out that a process is underway in her own party.
– Can you confirm that the process can take just weeks?
– I think it is a Norwegian in Brussels who is closest to answering that, Andersson says and refers to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
– We work for Sweden to have maximum freedom of action, and then this period from the time you apply until you become involved, and since the ratification procedure, is a question you have to go deep into, Andersson says.
Equal treatment
Although Sweden and Finland should fully qualify for membership, the formalities are also necessary for all applicant countries to, in principle, undergo the same procedure in order to join NATO.
This out of respect for, among others, Ukraine and Georgia, which received a political promise from a NATO summit on future membership as early as 2008.
The Swedish Prime Minister will not publish an exact date for a Swedish NATO decision,
– We will see when we think we have come so far that we make a decision. There is a flexibility in calling meetings. You can call in for ordinary meetings of the party leadership at any time, says Magdalena Andersson to VG between meetings with extras from the Nordics and India in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Her party, the Social Democrats, has reached an internal process on the way forward for Sweden – which is expected to end in a Swedish application for membership in NATO shortly.
Andersson says there are still meetings in the party, including three open, digital meetings for members next week.
At the same time, the government, without having a number of other NATO countries in recent weeks, When asked by VG whether any NATO country will have strong objections to Sweden becoming a member, the Swedish Prime Minister answers as follows:
– I have not received any pictures so far.
To the parliaments
Following the formal invitation, membership must be approved by the parliaments of all 30 member states – and in Sweden and Finland. This will take many months – and has taken up to a year for other new member states.
Only when all 30 parliaments have given the green light will membership be formally in order, and NATO’s security guarantee will apply fully to the candidate countries.
– It is with the membership that article 5 enters into force, says Jonas Gahr Støre to VG.
– But if NATO’s 30 member countries of the NATO Council welcome them, and the larger countries ferment it with weight, then it is a good insurance on the way to membership, he adds.
The Norwegian government has already backed the invitation politically:
– As I have said in the Storting: If Sweden and Finland apply for membership, we saw Norway clearly say that they are welcome in NATO. And we will do everything to contribute to a healthy process that is safe for the two countries, and for NATO, Støre adds.
Invited
NATO’s head of state and government has attended the alliance summit in Madrid in June.
If the formal invitation is ready by then, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson will also attend the summit – not as members but as “invited”.
Minutes and custom then dictate that they be given seats around the table at the summit – between US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.