Since Sweden’s NATO membership was completed, there have been discussions in the defense alliance about whether Sweden should belong to NATO’s military command in Norfolk, USA, or Brunssum in the Netherlands.
During the NATO defense ministers’ meeting in June, the countries agreed on a decision that will now be confirmed at the NATO summit in Washington:
– What will appear now at the Washington meeting will be a confirmation that Sweden and the other Nordic countries will belong to the same command in North America and that is good for Nordic defense cooperation, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson.
May become divided territory
At the same time, an investigation is underway at the military level within NATO about where in the Baltic Sea the border should be between the military command in the United States, which focuses on the Atlantic and Scandinavia – and the military command in the Netherlands, which focuses on the Baltics.
SVT Nyheter learns that one of the proposals being discussed is that the strategically important NATO islands in the Baltic Sea, Gotland, Åland and Bornholm, should belong to the military command in the Netherlands, while the mainland in each country should belong to the military command in the United States.
For Sweden, it would mean that its own territory is divided in NATO’s military planning, if the border between the military commands in Norfolk and Brunssum were to be drawn between Gotland and the Swedish east coast.
– It is a question that must be based on military logic and not political logic and Sweden’s view is that we must hold together our entire territory, there are other countries that have their territory divided between two different defense plans, says Pål Jonson.
“Different opinions”
Finnish Hufvudstadsbladet reported earlier this summer that the issue of border demarcation is somewhat infected, and that it is above all the Baltic countries that want the NATO islands in the Baltic Sea to belong to the military command in the Netherlands.
According to the Minister of Defence, the specific demarcation is not expected to be discussed at the summit, but this discussion will instead be handled at the military level.
– What is on the table right now is that a military expert committee is looking at where the border should go between what is called the central plan and the north-western plan and it has not been determined exactly where that border will go, there are a few different opinions, says Pål Jonson.