Opens for integrated defense with Sweden and Finland
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) is open to assessing stronger integration of the defense in Sweden, Finland and Norway – under the NATO umbrella.
In Sälen in Sweden on Sunday, Magdalena Andersson launched a new party proposal from the Swedish Labor Party, the Social Democrats, on a Nordic Defense Commissionwhen Sweden and Finland become members in NATO.
The former Swedish Prime Minister said that such a commission should be anchored in the Nordic parliaments:
– Closer cooperation can give a stronger Nordic region within a stronger Nato – We have a joint report with guidelines that the countries can support: What is required to protect us against what can threaten our country, and how we can use our military and civilian resources together, Andersson said at the Swedish security conference.
Støre: Agree with the goal
That concludes the Norwegian prime minister.
– I agree with the goal expressed by Magdalena Andersson. She was prime minister when the Nordic prime ministers gathered at my place in August, when the prime minister instructed foreign ministers, defense ministers and defense chiefs to look at the opportunity that opens up with Swedish and Finnish NATO membership. That work is underway.
– If or when they become members, is it possible to see a possible joint defense of borders, it could be within air defense?
– Geographically, I think there will be great opportunities for integration and division of labor between Norway, Sweden and Finland in the north, on the Nordkalotten – and inn towards the Baltic Sea, says Støre to VG.
He says Nato must be the base.
– The important thing for the Nordics in a joint membership in NATO is not to be the Nordics alone, but to be an integrated part of NATO.
Defense chiefs plan
Støre’s signal builds up under the joint plan as the four Nordic defense chiefs delivered to their governments last autumn, about how Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland can coordinate their defenses when all four become members of NATO.
Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen described above to VG four central areas for the reception of all military forces for the entire Nordic region, in crisis or war:
- The Ofotfjorden, as a junction towards Sweden and Finland, with an ice-free port, railway and roads from Narvik.
- The Trondheimsfjord, which also has good harbors and road and rail connections to Sweden, and further into Finland.
- The Gothenburg region in the Skagerrak, where there are already large ports which are also important for imports to Norway in peacetime.
- In addition, there will be a port on the Danish coast towards the North Sea. The port of Esbjerg has been mentioned here from the Danish side.
– We think more about integration than specialization, Kristoffersen told VG in October.
– When Finland and Denmark get their F-35 fighter jets, it will be a formidable air force in the Nordics, with around 140 fifth-generation fighter jets, in addition to 100 very modern Swedish planes. The armed forces have participated in exercises together over many years. And I see great opportunities in the new space domain and when it comes to cyber defense and secure communications, he added.