In its foreign policy statement on 16 February, the Swedish government stated that it did not intend to apply for NATO membership. The pressure to reassess the issue is growing as the nation and the majority of parliament are leaning towards NATO.
The Swedish Prime Minister and Minister of Defense will meet the President in Helsinki this afternoon Sauli Niinistö. In this way, they will receive an up-to-date information on the deepening of bilateral defense co-operation between Finland and the United States, of which Niinistö and the President Joe Biden agreed yesterday.
Prime minister Magdalena Andersson received first information about the appointment by phone last night. Niinistö and Biden called him after about an hour of conversation. Biden commented on the call on Twitter, saying both countries are valued defense partners for the United States and NATO.
Andersson tweeted that he appreciated his discussion with the presidents about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the security situation in Europe. He also said that cooperation will be strengthened.
Andersson will come to Helsinki together with the Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvistin with. They will have a joint meeting with President Sauli Niinistö, Prime Minister, in the afternoon Sanna Marinin and the Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen with.
Topics include Russia’s hostilities in Ukraine, the changed security situation in Europe and co-operation between Finland and Sweden.
The prime ministers will first meet. Defense ministers will also have a bilateral meeting.
Finland shows the way?
The Swedish media has been closely following the Finnish security policy debate in recent days.
The NATO issue can separate Finland and Sweden, according to a liberal newspaper Dagens Nyheter (switch to another service) today saturday. It bases its assessment on anonymous sources in Stockholm, Brussels and Helsinki and highlights three distinguishing factors.
Firstly, the leadership of the Swedish Social Democrats would not be ready to have a NATO debate in the party, but would allow Finland to lead the way.
Secondly, Finland is expected to be in a greater hurry to join NATO, in which case it will not necessarily expect Sweden.
Third, the United States has not sent troops to Ukraine because it is not a member of NATO and thus not under the security guarantees of the military alliance. Finland and Sweden also do not have security guarantees, but Finland has a long common border with Russia.
The Social Democrats will decide
The Social Democrat government said in a foreign policy statement on 16 February that it did not intend to apply for NATO membership.
Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said a couple of days ago, when he met Antti Kaikkonen during a joint defense exercise in Gotland on Wednesday, that Finland and Sweden had not held any discussions at all about applying for possible NATO membership.
– The position of the Swedish government has not changed, Hultqvist said.
However, the bourgeois parties, the moderate coalition, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and the center, are in favor of NATO membership. Yesterday, the Swedish Democrats also made an opening towards NATO membership. According to Swedish television, the party’s leadership has addressed the issue and a presentation will be made in the near future.
If the Swedish Democrats take a stand on NATO membership, it will have the support of a majority in the Swedish parliament. Public opinion is also beginning to change. Aftonbladet published the first opinion poll yesterday in which a majority of Swedes supported NATO membership.
– This puts a lot of pressure on the Social Democrats, says a Swedish television policy reporter Mats Knutsson.
The position of the Social Democrats on NATO is central to Sweden’s membership. The decision requires extensive anchoring across the traditional party border river.
– As long as the Social Democrats say no, it may be difficult for Sweden to join, Knutsson writes.
According to him, several Social Democrats are already ready to reassess NATO membership.