It makes sense for Sweden to move more slowly than Finland. If the country is to set aside a centuries-old policy of neutrality, it will need a broad consensus to do it
, committed Britain to defending both countries if attacked. That helped soothe fears that Russia might retaliate during the period after they apply for’s Article Five guarantee of mutual defence would not have taken effect.was always partly out of concern for its neighbour Finland, which the Swedes feared might be left isolated if it did so. Now that the Finns are shifting, Sweden is too. But the difference is also rooted in the two countries’ politics and sense of their own identities.
“There used to be an expression that it is good to be neutral, to be Swedish is to be neutral, and therefore it is good to be Swedish,” says Pal Jonson, anfor the centre-right Moderate party who chairs the defence committee of Sweden’s parliament. The sense of exceptionalism was not exclusive to the left. Carl Bildt, a Moderate who served as foreign minister in 2006-14, took to calling Sweden a “humanitarian superpower”.
Ms Lundgren says she struggles to understand such reasoning. Social Democrats who oppose accession say that non-alignment “creates stability and security for us and our region”, without explaining how. Many seem worried by the idea of living under’s nuclear umbrella, rather than reassured.
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