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NATO break is approaching: Sweden's government has allegedly already decided - Finland is pushing the pace

2022-04-13T13:05:19.811Z


NATO break is approaching: Sweden's government has allegedly already decided - Finland is pushing the pace Created: 04/13/2022, 14:52 By: Florian Naumann Sweden and Finland before joining NATO? Magdalena Andersson (left) and Sanna Marin at their meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday. © Paul Wennerholm/AFP Sweden and Finland are wrestling with themselves and a possible NATO membership. Now it could


NATO break is approaching: Sweden's government has allegedly already decided - Finland is pushing the pace

Created: 04/13/2022, 14:52

By: Florian Naumann

Sweden and Finland before joining NATO?

Magdalena Andersson (left) and Sanna Marin at their meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday.

© Paul Wennerholm/AFP

Sweden and Finland are wrestling with themselves and a possible NATO membership.

Now it could possibly go fast.

Explosive news is coming from Sweden in particular.

Helsinki – The Ukraine war* could now quickly bring a turning point in security policy for Northern Europe: Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland expects a decision on her country's NATO membership within "weeks".

She said this at a press conference with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson.

One of her predecessors had recently described Finland's accession as a "done thing"*.

But Sweden*, which has so far been less determined in terms of NATO, is apparently heading for the defense alliance.

According to information from the conservative Swedish newspaper

Svenska Dagbladet

, the leadership of Andersson's ruling Social Democrats has already decided that Sweden should soon join NATO.

However, the party is in a minority government and needs support from other partners.

The aim is to submit the corresponding Swedish application at the NATO summit in Madrid in June, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.

There was initially no official confirmation.

Sweden and Finland in NATO?

Foreign minister warns of Russia's '100,000 troops'

Nevertheless, some questions are still unanswered in both countries: In Sweden* as in Finland*, consultations and investigations of the options are underway in the parliaments.

The Finnish government also presented a report on NATO accession on Wednesday.

According to a report by the Swedish broadcaster SVT, it lists "both advantages and disadvantages" of NATO membership.

When presenting the paper, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto stressed that Eduskunta, the Finnish parliament, would be free to make its own decisions - and would also receive confidential information from NATO.

According to the hbl.fi

portal , he also

pointed out that Russia was acting more aggressively, could quickly mobilize up to 100,000 soldiers and that chemical and nuclear weapons played a greater role in the Kremlin's rhetoric.

The report also points this out.

However, there is no “acute threat” for the time being.

The report also does not contain a clear recommendation for accession.

One question in the accession talks would be the possible NATO military presence in the country, the paper said.

Membership would not oblige Finland to accept the deployment of nuclear weapons, permanent bases or troops.

Finland's NATO accession: Prime Minister calls "very clear" advantage - but also sees risks

Marin also stated that it is important to achieve as broad a consensus as possible on security and foreign policy issues.

At her meeting with Andersson, the Finn also made it quite clear that the European security situation had changed fundamentally as a result of Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The difference between a partner and a member of the military alliance is very clear, Marin said.

Nothing offers such security guarantees as NATO Article 5*, in which the NATO states assure each other of their support in the event of an attack.

But both contain risks: if you apply for admission or if you don't.

The Kremlin has repeatedly warned Finland and Sweden against joining NATO*.

Ukraine war fuels NATO debates: Finland and Sweden want to stand by each other

The discussion about joining NATO triggered by the war in Ukraine is more advanced in Finland than in Sweden.

There they are waiting for their own security policy assessment, which is not to be published until the end of May.

Observers assume that this could be submitted to NATO as early as May or June.

Probably also in view of speculation that the traditional alliance partners* were drifting apart, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto also declared: "Sweden and Finland are each other's closest partners".

Both countries must pull together on security issues, he said, according

to

hbl.fi.

However, it is still unclear whether accession will succeed in lockstep.

Judging by the statements made on Wednesday, Finland probably doesn't want to wait.

Andersson emphasized that the partnership between Sweden and Finland has been further deepened in recent weeks.

The changed security situation underlines the importance of close cooperation with the EU and with Finland - the EU also knows of an alliance*.

(

fn with material from dpa

) *

Merkur.de

is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-13

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