NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, said on Sunday 15 May, that a bid by Sweden and Finland to join the Alliance would be a “historic moment”.
Earlier in the day, the Finnish President and Prime Minister announced that their country would apply for NATO membership. A debate was held on 16 May in the Finnish Parliament and the Parliament may give its approval to the application in the next few days.
On Monday 16 May, the swedish government decided that Sweden should apply for membership in NATO.
“If Finland and Sweden apply for NATO membership, it will be a historic moment for Europe, for Finland, for Sweden, for NATO and a whole transatlantic bond”, Mr Stoltenberg said after an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin. According to the Secretary General, “Finland and Sweden are NATO’s closest partners”. “Their membership in NATO would increase our shared security, demonstrate that NATO’s door is open, and that aggression does not pay”, he added.
“We agree to send this message to Finland and Sweden: if you are ready, then we are ready”, said German Minister Annalena Baerbock. According to her, both countries “are politically and militarily ready for membership, there is no doubt”. “They are members of the EU and the OSCE, their forces are already integrated into the NATO structure to a very large extent, they meet NATO standards, they are ready to participate in NATO missions”, she said, adding that the two countries were practically already members of NATO, “but just without a membership card so far”.
Go as fast as possible
Not all Allies are so enthusiastic about a bid by the two countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed reservations on Friday 13 May (see EUROPE 12952/23). Mr Stoltenberg sought to reassure. “Turkey has made it clear that their intention is not to block membership. I’m confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn't delay the membership or the accession process”, he said. Mr Stoltenberg explained that the Allies would discuss with Turkey to find a consensus. “And that’s my intention. That’s my plan. I am confident that we will be able to do so also in this case because all Allies realise the historic magnitude of the moment”, he added.
Mr Stoltenberg said he hoped that the accession process for the two countries would go quickly, while acknowledging that the process of ratification by the 30 allied parliaments would take “some time”. “There’s no way to prevent that. But the plan is to have (...) that the process goes faster than we have seen before”, he explained. According to Mr Stoltenberg, many Allies have stated that they will find fast-track paths to ratification. Ms Baerbock promised such an approach, as did Slovakia’s Ivan Korčok, while Canadian Minister Mélanie Joly announced that her country intended to be among the first to ratify the processes.
Ensuring security during the interim period
The Secretary General also warned that the Alliance was ready to address Helsinki and Stockholm’s security concerns during the interim period - the period between formal application and membership - regarding possible Russian reactions.
“We will look into ways to provide security assurances including by increasing NATO presence in the region, in the Baltic region, in and around Finland and Sweden, of course in close consultation and (…) agreement with Finland and Sweden”, he promised, adding that NATO was already working closely with both countries, for example on hybrid threats and cyber threats.
“So we have already developed very close ways of working together with them to address some of the threats and challenges they are afraid that they will see more of in this interim period. So we will work closely with them to reach and to provide assurances (…) in the interim period”, he stressed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)