The Swedish Parliament made a historic decision to join NATO.
22.3. 16:26•Updated 22.3. 19:08
In Sweden, the Diet voted for the country’s accession to NATO by 269–37 votes. The historic decision came about with clear readings, and the members of the Diet welcomed it with applause.
The historical decision was preceded by a six-hour Diet debate.
Among the National Day parties, the Left Party and the Environmental Party opposed the country’s NATO membership. They have a total of 42 representatives in the 349-seat parliament.
The left party Håkan Svenneling said in his speech that, as a member of the military alliance, Sweden is a different country in international relations than before, and it should not ally with countries like Hungary and Turkey. Another main argument of the left against NATO is that the alliance’s deterrence is ultimately based on nuclear weapons.
The environmental party also justifies its opposition to NATO by saying that NATO is a nuclear weapons alliance. Jacob Risberg pointed out that NATO uses the deadliest weapon of modern times as a threat and as a guarantee of security political stability.
In addition, Risberg said that the environmental party wants Sweden to be a strong voice for democracy and peace. Swedish television follows Diet discussion (you will switch to another service).
Sweden’s eyes in Vilnius
Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership has not been ratified by the defense alliance’s member countries in Turkey and Hungary. Both have announced that they will first confirm only Finland’s membership.
However, Sweden’s political leadership has said that it is hopeful that Sweden will also be a member at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
Former Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist criticized the foreign minister in the National Day debate today Tobias Billström from the excessive belief that Sweden could be a member of the military alliance by the time of Vilnius.
– The Minister of Foreign Affairs says that he is completely convinced that Sweden will be involved by the time of Vilnius. That’s a strong statement. Is it an estimate, a wish, or does the foreign minister have information that makes him say this? Hultqvist wondered Swedish television (you switch to another service) by.
Billström replied that 28 of NATO’s 30 member countries have already accepted Sweden’s membership, and it has strong support from these countries.
– It is clear that we can become a full member by Vilnius. The support we have is so tangible that I can make that assessment, Billström answered.
In Finland, the accession to NATO was approved in a parliamentary vote already three weeks ago. President Sauli Niinistö has said that he will confirm the NATO laws tomorrow, Thursday. Niinistö emphasized during his visit to Turkey last week that Finland’s NATO membership is not complete without Sweden.
In Finland, the parliamentary process of NATO membership started earlier than in Sweden, already in the middle of last year and took clearly longer. In Sweden, the fact that the government brought the NATO proposal to the Diet only two weeks ago has been criticized.
Source: STT
Corrected on March 23 at 19:09 The number of countries that have ratified Sweden’s NATO membership.