Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats will decide on Sunday whether to support their country’s historic NATO bid to protect itself from Russia, they said.
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“The party will announce its position on May 15“, told AFP Julia Grabe, spokesperson for the Social Democrats. Support for membership, which would be a major reversal of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s past party line, would pave the way for a Swedish bid, analysts say. With the support of Social Democrat MPs, a large majority would be assured in the Swedish Parliament to apply, a fortiori in the event of formalization of the candidacy of neighboring Finland, expected in the coming days.
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Sweden and Finland have been out of military alliances for decades. And the Swedish Social Democrats have been, since the creation of NATO in 1949, the main political force in opposition to membership, a line still reaffirmed at their last congress in November. But public opinion and many political leaders have swung in favor of membership, due to the concern caused by the Russian attack on Ukraine.
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Members of NATO’s “Partnership for Peace”
The government and the parties represented in Parliament must present a new strategic review on Friday aimed at clarifying the choice on NATO. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö must make his personal position known on a candidacy on Thursday, while the position of the Finnish Social Democrats, also in power, is expected on Saturday.
Officially neutral during the Cold War, Sweden and Finland remained outside NATO after the fall of the USSR but moved closer to the alliance led by the United States since the 1990s. The two countries are members of thePartnership for Peaceof NATO and regularly take part in joint exercises. NATO Secretary General, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, said the two countries were the two closest non-member nations to the alliance and would be welcomed, he said.with open arms» in case of application. Russia has warned many times in recent weeks against “political and military consequencesof a Finnish and/or Swedish application.
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