The new government in Sweden: lifting the reservation on NATO bases

SÄLEN (VG) Sweden’s new bourgeois government moved away from the reservations of the Social Democrats about not wanting to allow foreign bases in Sweden, when the country becomes a NATO member.

Sweden’s new defense minister Pall Johnson told VG that base policy would be discussed internally in Sweden when membership is sound, that is, when Turkey and Hungary, as the last two member states, agree to Sweden’s membership.

– We’ve chosen to do like Norway: Do not make reservations before becoming an ally, but to raise the issue when membership is in place, Johnson says.

The topic was brought up at the big Swedish safety conference in the ski village of Sälen on Sunday, there NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg was presentAnd where the Swedish king Carl Gustav sat in the first row.

Not bases or nuclear weapons

Norway and Denmark expressed clear reservations within NATO about al-Qaeda policy and declared a national ban on the stockpiling of nuclear weapons in peacetime.

Johnson will not answer how he and the government of moderate Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stand for bases with foreign soldiers in Sweden.

– The Social Democrats were very concerned about this reservation. Now we will have broad political discussions. We’ll get back to the exact wording when we become members, Jonson tells VG.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that no one would put pressure on nuclear weapons or foreign bases on countries that would oppose it.

VG understands that neither Sweden nor Finland had formal reservations on their applications for NATO membership, when they were submitted in Brussels in May 2022.

The two applicant countries were advised not to make formal reservations at the time of the application, but rather to raise them internally at a later date.

Among other things, it was shown how Russia used every opportunity to criticize Norway for alleged violations of its own rules policy, whether during exercises by allies or visits by foreign ships that may have had nuclear weapons on board.

Subject to reservations

The leader of the Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, was the prime minister of Sweden when the application was made before the summer of last year. Then the party clearly communicated it They will take the same political reservations as Norway and Denmark, about bases and about nuclear weapons.

Now, at the security conference in Sälen on Sunday — Kristersson clearly said no to nuclear weapons on Swedish soil — but did not repeat the reservation about base policy:

When asked what she thought the new government would not stand for essential reservation, former Prime Minister Anderson responded with the following:

– I suppose, Ulf Kristersson sticks to what he said in the Swedish parliament in May, when we submitted the NATO request. It was very clear then. We did like the other Nordic countries: we didn’t keep any reservations when we sent the order. But we announced early on that when we became members, we would do what Norway and Denmark did: unilaterally declare that we don’t want nuclear weapons or permanent bases on our soil, Magdalena Andersson told VG.

requirements that we cannot meet

In Sweden, people are still eagerly awaiting Turkey and Hungary, being the last two countries, to approve Swedish and Finnish membership in NATO.

According to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Turkey made demands to extradite people whom Sweden could not or would not extradite, because they were either Swedish citizens or because formal legal procedures refused extradition.

– Christerson said they have demands that we cannot meet.

He added that Sweden “did what we had to do” to meet Agreement signed by Sweden and Finland with Turkey During the NATO Summit in Madrid in July 2022.

Jens Stoltenberg said in the newspaper Saline that he was confident that Turkey would agree to membership.

– I think it’s time for them to ratify the membership agreement. But I don’t want to speculate when that will happen, said the NATO chief.

North Commission

In Saline, Magdalena Anderson launched a new party proposal from the Social Democrats A Scandinavian Defense Committeewhen Sweden and Finland are now NATO members.

Former Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told VG that the idea had already been discussed with the Workers’ Party and the Social Democratic Party of Finland.