Sweden’s government party is ready to support NATO’s bid
In peace since the days of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden has been more reluctant to relinquish its freedom of alliance than Finland, which fought a bloody conflict with the Soviet Union in the 20th century.
On Thursday, the President and Prime Minister of Finland set the country on the course of joining the Western alliance “without delay”, which strengthened the driving force behind Sweden doing the same.
Tense wait
A membership application will foreshadow a tense wait for the months it takes to be ratified by all NATO members – Turkey has already raised its objections – although the Alliance and the White House have said they are convinced that any security concerns could be addressed in the meantime. .
Both countries are already NATO partners, having participated in Allied exercises for years, and rejected strict neutrality when they joined the European Union in 1995. But so far they have justified peace best by not publicly choosing sides.
Russia has warned Sweden and Finland of “serious consequences” and that nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles could be deployed in the Kaliningrad European Eclave if Sweden and Finland became NATO members.
The decision to go under the NATO umbrella would mean a setback for Moscow, where the war in Ukraine triggered just the kind of expansion of the alliance at Russia’s borders that Moscow says they took up arms to prevent.
After Finland’s leaders announced their determination to join, the Kremlin said it represented a hostile move that threatened Russia and vaguely warned of “retaliatory steps, both of a military and other nature”.
Sweden has rebuilt its military over the past decade, especially since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, bought US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems and based troops on the Baltic island of Gotland.
A cross-party parliamentary review on Friday said that joining NATO would increase Sweden’s national security and help stabilize the Nordic and Baltic regions.
Sweden’s deliberations on NATO came when Germany assured both Stockholm and Helsinki that they had made all preparations for a rapid ratification process if they were to proceed with their applications for membership.
“Germany has prepared everything to make a rapid ratification process,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday before the second day of talks with her NATO counterparts in Berlin.
“If they decide to join, they can join quickly. We must ensure that we will give them security guarantees, there must not be a transition period, a gray area, where their status is unclear,” she said.
Reuters