Swedish Party's U-turn Reignites NATO Membership Question
HELSINKI — A proposal from Sweden's NATO-skeptic Center Party that the country should join the alliance in conjunction with non-aligned neighbor Finland has reignited the NATO debate in Sweden. The proposal, made in a joint statement by Center Party leader Annie Lööf with defense and foreign affairs spokesmen Kerstin Lundgren and Daniel Bäckström, will be put to the party’s annual conference in Falun at the end of September.
"It would be natural that part of our deepening [defense] cooperation with Finland will also involve working together to seek membership in NATO," according to the statement. "We believe such a course would not only strengthen the ability of our two countries to contribute to the stability and security in our immediate area, but also in international security efforts."
The Center’s proposal contains three core conditions that will be presented at the party’s convention — that Sweden applies for NATO membership jointly with Finland; that membership is contingent on NATO troops or nuclear weapons not being stationed permanently in Sweden; and that NATO agrees to work with Sweden to create a Nordic nuclear-free zone. "Our conditions are reasonable. Norway’s membership agreement with NATO included stipulations on no permanent troops or nuclear weapons," Bäckström said.
If Finland and Sweden joined NATO concurrently, said Lööf, it would mean that all Nordic states, including Norway, Denmark and Iceland, would be NATO members. "This would strengthen the Nordic voice on global foreign and security issues, and provide us with more opportunities to jointly influence NATO's future development," Lööf said.
Russia is staunchly opposed to Finland or Sweden joining NATO. In June, Viktor Tatarintsev, Russia's ambassador to Sweden, warned that both countries could become the subject of Russian "countermeasures" if they abandoned their non-aligned status.
"Sweden’s security is best built in cooperation with others," Bäckström said. "The NATO issue is more in the limelight this year because the security climate has changed. We do not believe that our membership in NATO would heighten a potential threat from Russia. More countries have joined NATO in recent years. It is natural for Sweden to want to join the alliance."
The pivotal shift in the Center’s view of NATO is driven by a more militaristic and threatening Russia. The Kremlin’s intervention in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea has changed the security landscape for all Nordic and Baltic governments in the region.
The Center’s policy reversal on NATO could prove a tide-turning moment, said Tomas Frings, a Berlin-based political analyst. "The Center and the Christian Democrats were the two most NATO-skeptic parties in the center-right alliance government led by then-Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt," Frings said. "They effectively blocked the natural desire of the Moderates and the Liberals to move Sweden closer to NATO membership." As a united force, all four parties could pump up the pressure for membership and compel the Socialist-Green government to take a "formal position on the NATO question," Frings said................