Turkey’s decision to finally unblock Sweden’s NATO membership process was welcomed by many at the NATO summit in Vilnius, but the Swedish Peace Association and some left-wing parties remain critical of the political move.
Turkey has given Sweden the green light to join NATO, and as things stand, it is only a matter of time before Sweden formally joins the defence alliance. However, not everyone agrees it is “a good day for Sweden”, as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said after Erdogan’s announcement on Monday.
“NATO does not make us safer, it does not make the world safer”, said Kerstin Bergeå, chairwoman of the Swedish Peace Association, which condemned Sweden’s accession as a “historically wrong priority” on Tuesday.
“From now on, we will be protected by nuclear weapons because that is NATO’s policy. This is really something that Sweden has worked to disarm and must continue to do so,” said Bergeå, who works for the organisation that works for peace, disarmament and non-violence and serves as an umbrella term for various peace organisations, initiatives and campaigns in Sweden.
While Bergeå criticised NATO membership for leading to increased polarisation and militarisation.
She also criticised the lack of impact assessments on what it means to become part of NATO.
“This decision has been taken very quickly and is a huge turnaround, and we have not had time to talk about what it means for Sweden to join a nuclear alliance,” she declared.
In the Swedish parliament, Bergeå’s argument found an echo among the Left Party and the Greens, both of whom have opposed Swedish NATO membership.
Leading Green MP Märta Stenevi wrote on Twitter that the NATO process has been “embarrassingly badly handled from day one” and that Erdogan and Turkey have been given an “unreasonable amount of influence over Swedish domestic politics”.
“However, it is with sadness that I note that Sweden is no longer a voice for freedom and democracy, but instead a silent partner of an authoritarian regime,” she also wrote.
Left party leader Nooshi Dadgostar also criticised the lengthy process.
“If other parties had listened to the Left Party’s warnings last spring about the risks of entering into a military alliance with Turkey, this process could have been better,” she wrote on Twitter.
Historically, Sweden has been opposed to NATO membership and maintained a position of neutrality until last year when it officially applied to NATO.
(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)
Read more with EURACTIV
First candidate to replace Tsipras in Greek leftist Syriza emerges
Source: euractiv.com
