Status: 04/28/2022 13:39
Sweden and Finland’s applications for NATO membership are not yet official – but the alliance has already promised approval. The accession of countries can also have implications for EU security policy.
By Helga Schmidt, ARD Studio Brussels
The turning point in security policy is also approaching in Scandinavia. For Sweden and Finland, freedom of alliance and military independence have been pillars of their foreign policy for decades – now NATO membership has become so likely that their secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has already promised in Brussels that the alliance will receive both countries with open arms decide to submit the application.
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Finland and Sweden have long been NATO’s close partners, but they have always maintained their independence – a distance that has narrowed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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“We have worked with Finland and Sweden for many years,” explains NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, reporting on the high military level of both armies. You know this from joint exercises and joint international military operations.
NATO headquarters in Brussels expects official membership applications from Helsinki and Stockholm to arrive in a few weeks. All 30 member countries must then agree. So far, however, no member has spoken out against Finland and Sweden, on the contrary: the big members have already offensively signaled their willingness to join, including the US, France and Germany.
NATO membership would have an impact on the EU
Upon accession, two more EU member states would join NATO. That would have consequences for the EU’s cooperation with the defense alliance, said Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament. She received Stoltenberg on Thursday. It was the first time that the head of NATO had an official exchange with the leaders of political parties in the European Parliament.
“Now we’re talking about the alliance – and about common values and common goals that we, the EU and NATO, share. And we can also talk about even more intense cooperation and more common security,” Metsola said.
More engagement by EU states in NATO?
It is now accepted that Europeans must do more to ensure the security of the Union. Russia’s war against Ukraine has given impetus to those who want Europe’s strategic and military development to be firmly anchored in NATO – not on the alliance side.
The rapid accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO is increasingly likely
Helga Schmidt, ARD Brussels, 28 April 2022 12:54 pm