Three question marks remain in the NATO operation in Sweden

According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden can count on a smooth path in NATO. But the process can be slowed down by several obstacles.

Approval from 30 NATO countries can be obtained quickly — from days to a week, according to Björn Fagerstein, a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute. After that, the so-called authentication process is pending. Something that can take time.

– The greater danger is if some countries choose to use the veto as a means to gain other advantages, or the countries are under pressure from third powers, for example that Russia will try to influence the existing members.

Turkey has already expressed its opposition. According to observers, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s goal was to pursue his own interests, without any direct links to European security policy.

Demand: No nuclear weapons on Swedish soil

Sweden’s move into a military alliance using nuclear weapons as a doctrine has marked the NATO controversy. The question was how Sweden’s role in disarmament issues would be affected.

The fact that we will be part of the nuclear umbrella with US nuclear weapons may make it difficult to pursue a strong policy regarding complete disarmament in the short term. However, it should be noted that Sweden’s disarmament work is already being carried out in cooperation with a number of NATO countries, says Jakob Hallgren.

Five NATO countries have nuclear weapons equipped in their regions. Regarding the “yes” letter this weekend, the Social Democrats demanded a reservation about the deployment of nuclear weapons on Swedish soil.

It must be based on acceptance by the host country until nuclear weapons are developed. I think this is unlikely, it had nothing to do with the Swedish discussion.

Unconfirmed during application phase

No one knows for sure what concrete counter-reactions can be expected from Russia in the near future. According to Björn Fägersten, Sweden is not subject to influence during the application process itself, as the government has already decided.

At the same time, several countries promised their support in the event of a military attack on Sweden during the processing of the application.

– One can hope that the protection will be public, that is, the countries that say they will support us during the phase already do so, says Björn Fagerstein.