Sweden’s ruling Social Democratic government will decide on May 15 whether to overturn decades of opposition to NATO membership, the party said on Monday, a move that would almost certainly prompt Sweden to ask to join the 30-member alliance. countries.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted an urgent rethinking of security policy in Sweden and Finland. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto is expected this week to announce his support for an application to join the military bloc.
Niinisto’s May 12 announcement would set off what would likely be two eventful weeks during which the map of Northern Europe’s security architecture could be redrawn.
“What will be the decision has not yet been decided today,” Social Democratic Party secretary Tobias Baudin told Swedish radio SR. “Our message is that on May 15 there will be a decision for the party leadership to take a stand.”
The Social Democrats – Sweden’s biggest party for the past 100 years – are holding three digital party meetings this week to gauge members’ views on NATO membership ahead of the leadership’s final decision over the weekend.
Meanwhile, parliament is carrying out a parallel review of the all-party security policy, which is due to be released on May 13.
“I want to put this on the table before I make a decision,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said in a debate on NATO on Swedish TV on Sunday.
A formal application for NATO membership could be made at the alliance’s June summit in Madrid and will likely be expedited, although getting the signatures of all 30 alliance members could take up to a year.
Military non-alignment has been a political bedrock for many Swedes, and while support for NATO membership has grown sharply with polls in recent months showing a clear majority in favor – many still remain undecided.
The decision to seek NATO membership would certainly anger Moscow, which has threatened to place nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, across the sea from Sweden.
The Left and Green parties have rejected membership applications, while the rest of the opposition wants to go ahead.
“Ask Ukraine if they would rather be in NATO,” Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderates, the largest opposition party, said during the NATO debate.
“We have to seek common protection along with other democracies and defend our common values.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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