NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that if Sweden and Finland apply to join the alliance, NATO will consider them “relatively quickly”.
He said NATO had a “good dialogue” with the leaders of these countries.
In early March, Stoltenberg announced that NATO foreign ministers had reached an agreement to expand cooperation between the bloc, Finland and Sweden. According to him, from now on, these two countries will participate in all consultations of the organization on the Ukrainian crisis.
At the same time, Finnish President Sauli Nienist announced her readiness to discuss joining NATO. According to her, the majority of people, according to opinion polls, are in favor of joining NATO.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also said that the country is ready to apply to join NATO if the issue of national security requires it.
On March 30, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said the country might reconsider her country’s position on NATO membership. She noted that Sweden’s liberation from military alliances “served it well”, but if the security policy changes, the country may reconsider its position.