After Turkey’s announcement to approve Sweden’s application, a new chapter of the Swedish NATO process now begins.
Sweden will go through a ratification process and then we can call ourselves a full NATO member.
The Minister of Defense says that our armed forces already feel a difference in the way they work.
The NATO summit in Vilnius has ended and Sweden has gone home with the assurance that both Turkey and Hungary will approve our application for membership.
According to Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M), there is a strong demand for Sweden to become members as quickly as possible. NATO is now strengthening its regional defense planning and then they would like to have access to Swedish territory, he says.
– We will have an important role, not least up in northern Europe. It is easier to defend Finland and the Baltic countries if Sweden is included in NATO’s joint defense planning.
He also says that we will contribute with military capabilities and the experience of how to operate in the Baltic Sea area and that we have a strong defense industry.
– There is no other country of ten million that has both the ability to design and develop fighter aircraft and submarines.
The work of the armed forces has already changed
Sweden has already had close cooperation with NATO before the application. Since we applied to become a full member, exercise activities with NATO have increased and the Swedish Armed Forces are already feeling a difference in how they work, says Pål Jonson.
– We practice and train already now in a different way than we did a few years ago. And it is clear that when we go from partners to allies, that type of international defense cooperation and that type of activity will also increase in scope.
Since the invitee status, Sweden has deepened its political and military integration with NATO. This means, among other things, that Pål Jonson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) attend all NATO ministerial meetings and many working group meetings.
– On the military side, we have worked to integrate Sweden into NATO more and more deeply. That work is going very well, we have been given different types of objectives with which we should be able to contribute to NATO’s common defense when we become allies.
“Remains to be seen”
We have waited a long time to be approved by all NATO allies, but it seems that it will take until the autumn before we become full members.
– We will become members as soon as Turkey and Hungary have ratified our application and after that we will have to submit what is called our accession protocol to the American State department. It remains to be seen exactly when that will be.