Sweden must become a full member of the Nato military alliance “as fast as possible” to ward off the threat from Russia, the country’s defence minister has said, as impatience builds in Stockholm over its slow path to accession.
Pål Jonson said that he was unable to put a timeline on the completion of Sweden’s Nato approval process buthe was confident that Turkey and Hungary, the two remaining members left to ratify the country’s membership, would do so eventually.
“We do not want to write off Russia as a threat because Russia has … shown evidence of endurance [in Ukraine]. So we have to stick to it and we do that in the best way by strengthening our national weaknesses and becoming fully integrated into Nato as soon as possible,” Jonson told the Guardian.
Sweden submitted its Nato application at the same time as Finland in May 2022, both countries renouncing their military neutrality after Vladimir Putin’s full invasion of Ukraine. In April this year, 11 months later, Finland officially became a Nato member. But Sweden is still awaiting Turkey and Hungary’s approval.
Speaking from Helsinki, where he addressed the Hanakäräjät defence and security policy forum on Tuesday, Jonson said there was “strong support” for Sweden’s application among Nato allies. Sweden, he said, offered Nato “better strategic depth” and “important military resources”.
In July, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed to forward Sweden’s accession protocol to parliament as soon as possible after talks with the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson. But last week, Turkey’s foreign affairs committee said it was postponing its verdict, saying the matter was “not ripe” for decision.
There is uncertainty, too, around Hungary’s intentions, although Jonson said that Budapest had assured Stockholm that “they will not be the last country to ratify us”. Hungary last week said it was not ready to ratify Sweden, despite the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, having previously said approval was only a technicality.
Despite these delays, Jonson, a member of the Moderate party, said he remained confident about Sweden’s future in Nato. “We are going to be allied and I am sure that we will be allied,” he said.
“We are safer now than we were before we sought Nato membership through security assurances we have received from the US, the UK, Germany, France and the other Nordic countries.”
Jonson said he had been in contact with his Finnish colleagues about recent tensions on the Russian-Finnish border, where Finnish authorities have accused Moscow of helping to facilitate the passage of increasing numbers of asylum seekers.
Finland, he said, remained Sweden’s “closest political partner in security and defence”, adding: “That relationship will continue to be totally central for us and it us also a very important contribution to security and stability in our region.”
Jonson’s comments came on the eve of a two-day summit of defence ministers from across the Nordic and Baltic states in Stockholm as part of the Nordic Defence Cooperation (Nordefco).
Describing the meeting as “historic”, Jonson said it would mark the first time defence ministers from across the two regions would come together to talk about security arrangements and security solutions for times of peace, crisis and war.
Subjects on the agenda will include defence and security policy, Nordic defence cooperation, critical infrastructure and support to Ukraine.
