Sweden and the US held discussions on increasing military cooperation as Turkey and Hungary continue to block NATO membership for the country, Defence Minister Pål Jonson announced Monday.
Closer military cooperation between the countries would include the US possibly storing defence equipment in Sweden during peacetime and allowing the quicker deployment of US reinforcements in Sweden in case of a crisis or war, Jonson announced on Monday.
“We have recently begun negotiations with the United States on this. With our invited status, we are moving from being close partners to allies”, Jonson told Dagens Nyheter.
“The aim is to get more effective and faster support from the US in crisis or war situations”, he added.
In 2016, Sweden signed a host country agreement with NATO that makes it easier for Sweden to receive support from NATO in case of a crisis or war – an agreement that has made it easier for Sweden to host joint international exercises.
The new agreement currently being discussed with the US “is about the legal status of American soldiers in Sweden, about advance storage of defence equipment and investments in infrastructure that are important for Sweden as a host country to be able to provide support,” the defence minister has said.
For Jonson, Sweden’s future NATO membership is fundamental to the new agreement with the US, though Turkey and Hungary have not yet approved the country’s membership application, further delaying the process.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed weariness over the delay in an interview with SVT Nyheter on Sunday in which he pressured Ankara.
“I believe that the application should now be approved, and I have expressed this in Istanbul in talks with the president and the leadership there”, Stoltenberg said.
He added that Sweden and Finland have fulfilled the agreements that the countries signed with Turkey during this summer’s NATO summit in Madrid.
Despite the lengthy application process, he added that Sweden is a safer country than before it applied for membership and would receive help in the event of a Russian invasion.
“NATO has increased its presence in the region, and Sweden is increasingly integrated into the defence alliance’s civilian and military cooperation”, Stoltenberg said,
Sweden has “received bilateral security guarantees from the US, the UK and many other NATO countries as part of the membership process,” he added.
(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
