Sweden's government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, Prime
Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday, setting it on the road toward
ending military non-alignment that lasted throughout the Cold War. Sweden's
governing Social Democrats dropped their 73-year opposition to joining NATO on
Sunday and are hoping for a quick accession, following Russia's Feb. 24 invasion
of Ukraine.
"We are leaving one era behind us and entering a new one," Andersson
told a news conference. She said the application could be handed in on Monday,
Tuesday or Wednesday and would be synchronised with Finland, which has also
confirmed it would apply to join the military alliance. "NATO will strengthen
Sweden, Sweden will strengthen NATO," she said.
The decision to abandon the
military non-alignment that has been a central tenet of Swedish national
identity for two centuries marks a sea change in public perception in the Nordic
region following Russia's attack on its neighbour.
However, she said Sweden did
not want permanent NATO military bases or nuclear weapons on its territory if
its membership was approved. There is broad backing in parliament for an
application, though the government does not need its approval to go ahead.
Andersson said she hoped for a quick accession process but that it could take up
to a year to get approval from the parliaments of the 30 NATO member states.
Andersson warned that Sweden would be particularly vulnerable during that
period.
Sweden has received assurances of support from the United States, the
United Kingdom and Germany among others but not any legally binding guarantees
of military aid. In a joint statement on Monday, Nordic neighbours Denmark,
Norway and Iceland also pledged support. "Finland and Sweden's security is a
matter of common concern to us all. Should Finland or Sweden be victim of
aggression on their territory before obtaining NATO membership, we will assist
Finland and Sweden by all means necessary," they said in a statement.
Turkey's Opposition as an Obstacle
One
obstacle has already emerged even before the applications have landed at NATO's
Brussels headquarters. Turkey surprised its NATO allies by saying it would not
view applications by Finland and Sweden positively, mainly citing their history
of hosting members of Kurdish militant groups. President Tayyip Erdogan called
the Scandinavian countries "guesthouses for terrorist organisations".
Defence
Minister Peter Hultqvist said on Monday that Sweden would start diplomatic
discussions with Turkey to try to overcome Ankara's objections to its plan to
join NATO. "We will send a group of diplomats to hold discussions and have a
dialogue with Turkey so we can see how this can be resolved and what this is
really about," Hultqvist told public service broadcaster SVT.
Turkey has said it
wanted the Nordic countries to halt support for Kurdish militants on their
territory, and to lift bans on sales of some weapons to Turkey. Turkish state
media said separately that Sweden and Finland had rejected requests for the
repatriation of 33 people that Turkey alleges have links to groups it deems
terrorists.
NATO and the United States said they were confident Turkey would not
hold up membership of Finland and Sweden. Diplomats said Erdogan would be under
pressure to yield as Finland and Sweden would greatly strengthen NATO in the
Baltic Sea. "I'm confident that we will be able to address the concerns that
Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn't delay the membership," NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.
Source: Reuters
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