On February 27, the Hungarian Parliament approved by a large majority Sweden's entry into NATO. Indeed, to join the Atlantic Alliance, the green light from all member countries is required, as provided for in art. 10 of the Washington Treaty. The Scandinavian country will therefore be the thirty-second member of NATO. The news comes almost a year after neighboring Finland joined NATO.
THE grouping of Scandinavian countries around the Euro-Atlantic Alliance represents a important signal. A clear choice of ground, never called into question by the governments of Stockholm and Helsinki, which reflects the concerns and uncertainties of the moment. This decision could have a positive impact on the health of the West. On condition, however, that the latter first knows how to exploit it for diplomatic purposes and with foresight.
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The choice of neutrality
THE North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) it was signed on April 4, 1949 in Washington. Greece, Turkey and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were added to the twelve states that immediately joined – including Italy and Norway – during the first half of the 1950s. The process membership then intensified, particularly from the end of the 1990s.
The main motivation that led to the creation of aintergovernmental military alliance was to equip itself with a common defense instrument to face a possible Soviet military attack. Sweden and Finland, however, chose to remain neutral, joining neither the Atlantic Pact nor the Warsaw Pact, created in 1955 under the leadership of the Soviet Union.
If the neutrality of the Stockholm government he was registered in a tradition dating back to the Napoleonic Warsand the Finland's position rather, it was of a strategic nature. The latter, in fact, bordering the Soviet Union, was forced to reasons for realpolitik to offer its neutrality in exchange for respect for territorial integrity.
NATO member countries (2024)
Russian invasion leads Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership
Following theinvasion of Ukraine by the Russian FederationHowever, the the situation changed quicklysoon leading the governments in Helsinki and Stockholm to apply for and officially become part of NATO. “Now that all allies have approved, Sweden will become NATO's 32nd ally”, declared Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg; also observing that “Sweden's membership will make us all stronger and more secure.”
The crux of the problem lies precisely in this last point. Since the end of World War IIIn fact, the deterrence strategy has been consolidated in strategic studies. In short, the more military force was acquired, the greater the likelihood that major international actors would not misstep and attack each other.
Security So that was it guaranteed by the strength of the suitors. A principle that certainly remains valid even in the current scenario, with the – not insignificant – difference that there are no longer just two opposing blocs competing for geopolitical or ideological primacy, but much more. For this reason, Sweden's entry into NATO is good news provided that this grouping does not produce a bellicose posture, but is a means of dialogue.
But to achieve this, you need a good dose of balance and a desire for dialogue. Qualities that the Atlantic Alliance, in fact, has not always demonstrated, having also been at the head in the past “campaigns without strategic sense”, as journalist Lucio Caracciolo defined them in an interview with Micromega. Sweden's entry into NATO therefore represents a challenge above all for the West. But at the same time, this makes Europe more coherentby reestablishing this unity too often compromised by policies focused solely on the present.
