Sweden and Finland’s application for NATO membership “is an ongoing process in both countries. There is still no decision, however everything points in this direction. I think the step will be taken by us end of May“. This is what the former Swedish prime minister said in an interview with Corriere della Sera Carl Bildtleader of the country from 1991 to 1994 and chairman of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999.
According to Bildt “The Russia is always more unpredictable. Putin has shown that he intends to use his military might in ways that none of us expected,” he explains. After initial hesitation, Sweden and Finland “decided to send military material to Ukraine” because “the security of all of Europe is at stake.” The choice is now “between an uncertain middle position and the recognition of a new reality, the consequence of which can only be membership in NATO”. Also because “the United States has drawn a clear line between countries that fall under the collective defense of Article 5 and those that do not.” For NATO membership, “popular support is currently stronger in Finland than in Sweden, but the situation is changing and the number of those who are for us is constantly growing emphasizes Bildt I think we have a decision about NATO membership will be decided before the elections to remove the issue from the election campaign.” And on neutrality, which is seen as a cornerstone of both Swedish and Finnish politics, he reiterates what the former Helsinki prime minister said Jyrki Katainen: “We gave up neutrality in 1995 and decided to be part of the European Union”
Stockholm, he continues, “renounced neutrality” along with Helsinki when it joined the European Union. And why isn’t EU protection with the security guarantees of Article 47.7 of the Lisbon Treaty sufficient to defend against Putin? “Because if we look at the military realities, the two countries that are relevant to the security of Sweden and Finland are the United States and the United Kingdom.” And neither of them is an EU member.
No Nordic country “wants to become the spear aimed at Russia,” but as long as Putin “is in power, the situation will remain dangerous. In the long term, we hope for a more stable relationship with Moscow based on Norway’s example.” The Russian threat to station nuclear weapons in the Baltic States in the event of NATO accession does not worry Bildt: “The nuclear weapons the Russians already have them a Kaliningrad and in the northwest of their territory. We already live with it. It’s an empty threat.”
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