Germany will support both Sweden and Finland if they decide to join NATO. This was stated by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to the two Prime Ministers of both countries, the Swedish Magdalena Andersson and the Finnish Sanna Marin. “You can count on our support. No one can be sure that Russia will not break international legality by force again,” said the German president. A warning that Putin can attack any country.
The offensive in Ukraine on the one hand, and the threats from Moscow about the consequences that entry could have on the other, have led Sweden and Finland to reconsider the option of joining the Atlantic Alliance. Both presidents assured weeks ago that the decision on applying for admission would be made quickly, being more “a matter of weeks than months.”
“Finland and Sweden are facing important decisions about their security,” the Finnish president said. For her part, her Swedish counterpart highlighted the relationship between the two countries with Germany and announced an increase in investment for Defense. “The security situation calls for closer integration than beforeAndersson emphasized.
From Russia, the vice president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned about the consequences. “It will be necessary to reinforce the group of ground forces, the anti-aircraft defense, deploy important naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. And in that case already there will be no talk of a Baltic without nuclear weapons. The balance must be restored,” he said.. Some words similar to those pronounced by the spokesman for the Presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
If Sweden and Finland finally decide to start the procedures to join NATO, they will have to count on the support of all the countries that are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In this aspect, there would be a country that could jeopardize the entry of the two Nordic countries In the organization. This is Croatia.
The electoral law of Bosnia, the obstacle of Croatia
The Croatian President Zoran Milanovicwarned about the possibility of vetoing Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO in the event that they had the right to veto, and placed a condition so that this scenario does not occur. The Croat called for a change in the electoral law of Bosnia & Herzegovina. A law that, according to his point of view, discriminates against Bosnian Croats and that, if changed, needs the approval of the Bosnian Parliament.
According to the statements it collects ‘Europe Press‘Milanovic has assured that he will consider “traitors” to all those who give the go-ahead to NATO enlargement with the entry of Sweden and Finland, without having previously reformed the electoral law in the Bosnian country.
However, he has been opposed by the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, regarding the possibility of discussing the entry of Sweden and Finland. “The position against NATO expansion is pro-Russian. A very damaging catastrophe for Croatia,” said the leader of the Croatian Executive. Croatia has been a member of NATO since 2009.