Believes the government should have withdrawn from the nuclear weapons meeting: Incomprehensible – VG

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– It is especially difficult to understand why the government chooses to go it alone, at a time when NATO is so united. A united NATO will be extra important in the future. That the government is also clear that they do not want to sign the prohibition treaty, makes participation in the conference even more incomprehensible, says the former foreign minister to VG.

She says the government should in principle never have announced that they would act as observers.

– And when the security policy situation is as it is today, the wisest thing would clearly be to turn around in this matter.

Got Jens criticism

It was in October that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre first said that the government would participate as observers at the UN conference that this summer brings together the countries that have bound themselves to the nuclear weapons ban treaty. Then he emphasized that Norway will not sign, and that this is not a step in that direction.

At that time, Norway was the only NATO country to participate. It is contrary to NATO’s line, and triggered criticism from NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. Germany have subsequently also confirmed that they will participate as observers.

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Atomic fear

– When you first get involved and participate in disarmament work, which everyone in the Storting is for, you should do it both in the areas where there are opportunities for progress, and where the nuclear weapons states are also involved, says Eriksen Søreide to VG.

Right hair all the way been critical of Norway’s participation. Now the debate on a nuclear ban has also taken on a new dimension with Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, and the fear that weapons of mass destruction could make world tensions more dangerous.

But Eriksen Søreide does not believe the prohibition treaty will help, and points out that the Storting decided to work for balanced, mutual, verifiable and irreversible disarmament in 2016.

– It has weak verification mechanisms, and significantly weaker than current standards according to the IAEA Additional Protocol. And the treaty does not include any of the nuclear-weapon states, she says, and continues:

– It is a great challenge that several of the agreements with Russia either no longer exist or are not complied with, and that it has been difficult to get the nuclear weapons states to sit around the table and discuss, except for one thing where Norway has had leadership for a few years now: Verification. It is an important path towards disarmament.

– You describe this as a kind of siding from what is really important?

– It is not something that the government should now spend energy on, she says.

– Unfortunate

– But is it so dangerous to go as an observer, when the government says it is not a step towards signing the agreement?

– I think it is an unfortunate signal to send. The government has been clear that they have no plans to join the treaty. Then the question is why they should prioritize participating as an observer at this State Party conference, and in addition go across our allies at a time when we need a united NATO.

Had it been an open question whether Norway should join the treaty or not, she says it would be more logical to travel.

– But the marking that they now choose to make is in my opinion unwise in the situation we are in now, says Eriksen Søreide, and adds:

– I do not quite understand what the government wants with that participation. The government has not been able to explain this before either.

– Do not shake NATO solidarity

State Secretary Eivind Vad Petersson (Labor Party) rejects that the government is wasting energy on the conference.

– It is a sensible use of resources that the Foreign Ministry’s professionals are present when so many of the world’s countries meet at a UN conference to discuss disarmament.

Norway will participate with professionals from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ie not political participation from the government apparatus.

– The reaction from allies has been as expected. Norwegian participation in the State Party Conference does not shake our NATO solidarity. Norway will not accede to the Prohibition Treaty. That would be contrary to our NATO commitments.

Petersson says Norway is coordinating closely with Germany, Sweden and Finland, which have also announced that they will participate as observers.

– An important purpose for Norway to participate as an observer is to counteract a greater polarization in disarmament work. It is irrelevant for Norway to join this prohibition treaty, but 86 of the world’s countries have signed it. If there is to be real movement in disarmament, we should be present in the arenas where disarmament is discussed, and show that we take the impatience of almost half of all the countries in the world seriously, he says.

He says the new security policy situation in Europe does not diminish the need to avoid it becoming “the West against the rest”

– 141 countries voted to condemn Russia’s war, but it is also not an attitude we can take for granted. A contribution to preserving the common position in the world is to show that we as a European NATO country take this impatience seriously.

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