File – From left: Norway’s Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gramm, Latvia’s Janis Garrisons, Finland’s Antti Kaikkonen, Denmark’s Morten Botkov, Sweden’s Peter Hultqvist, Estojna’s Hanno Pevkur, Iceland’s Hannes Heimisson (Ambassador) and Lithuanian Zilvinas Tomkus (Deputy Minister of Defense) attended. Press conference in connection with the Nordic-Baltic Defense Ministers Meeting at P 18 Regiment, Tofta, Gotland, Sweden, September 2, 2022 (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency, via AP, File)
STOCKHOLM (AP) – After holding out for nearly two years, Sweden’s bid to join NATO has cleared its penultimate hurdle, with Turkey’s parliament giving the Nordic country the green light to join NATO.
All existing NATO members must obtain approval before new members can join the alliance, and Hungary is currently the only member state that has not granted permission to Sweden.
Let’s take a look at Sweden’s complicated path to NATO membership.
Why does Sweden want to join NATO?
Sweden has not joined a military alliance for more than 200 years and has long ruled out seeking NATO membership. However, when Russia invaded Ukraine in earnest in February 2022, it abandoned its long-standing non-alignment policy almost overnight and decided to apply to join the alliance, along with neighboring Finland.
Sweden and Finland already had strong ties with NATO after the end of the Cold War, but until the beginning of the Ukraine war, public opinion was strongly opposed to full membership.
Non-alignment was seen as the best way to avoid creating tensions with Russia, its powerful neighbor in the Baltic region. However, Russia’s invasion caused dramatic changes in both countries, with opinion polls showing a surge in support for NATO membership.
Political parties in both Finland and Sweden decided that they needed the security that could only come from full membership in a US-led alliance.
Why does it take so long?
Finland became NATO’s 31st member state last April, but Sweden’s application has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.
To allow Sweden to join, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced an agreement against groups Turkey considers to be a threat to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of the network it blames for the 2016 coup attempt. A series of conditions were presented, including more demanding postures.
The Swedish government tried to appease Erdoğan by lifting an arms embargo on Turkey and promising to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, but in Sweden, supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Koran Anti-Muslim activists who set it on fire sparked public demonstrations. complicate the situation.
Pressure on Turkey from the United States and other NATO allies to drop its opposition to Sweden’s membership appeared to have had little effect until last year’s NATO summit, when Erdogan said he would send the document to Congress for approval. It looked like. However, the issue was held up in Parliament, and MPs finally voted on the issue on Tuesday, ratifying Sweden’s accession protocol by a vote of 287 to 55.
This leaves Hungary as the final hurdle to Sweden’s NATO bid. Hungary initially gave no clear reason for the postponement, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had long maintained that his country would not be the last to grant recognition to Sweden. But attitudes towards Stockholm hardened last year, with Hungary accusing Swedish politicians of telling “blatant lies” about the state of democracy in Hungary.
Prime Minister Orbán, who has fallen out with his NATO allies over his pro-Kremlin stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, invited Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to Budapest on Tuesday, saying he would “talk to our allies about the future of defense”. We will discuss cooperation.” Partner. ”
Unless an emergency session of the Hungarian parliament is convened to discuss Sweden’s NATO proposal, the next scheduled session is scheduled for February 26.
What will Sweden bring to the alliance?
If Sweden joins, the Baltic Sea will be surrounded by NATO countries, strengthening the alliance in a strategically important region. The Baltic Sea is the maritime point from which Russia accesses the city of St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad enclave.
Although the Swedish military has been significantly reduced since the Cold War, it is widely seen as having the potential to strengthen NATO’s collective defense in the region. Sweden has a modern air force and navy and is committed to increasing defense spending to meet NATO’s goal of 2% of gross domestic product.
Like the Finnish military, the Swedish military has been participating in joint exercises with NATO for many years.
How did Russia react?
Understandably, the Russian government reacted negatively to Sweden and Finland’s decision to abandon non-alignment and seek NATO membership, warning of unspecified countermeasures.
Russia said the measures had a negative impact on the security situation in Northern Europe, “which has traditionally been one of the most stable regions in the world.”
Finnish security officials said in October that relations between the country and Russia had deteriorated significantly and that the Russian government now considered its western neighbor to be an enemy.
Both Sweden and Finland have warned of the increased risk of Russian interference and hybrid attacks.