Sweden’s membership in NATO would reduce the risks of conflict in Northern Europe, according to a security policy review by parties represented in the Swedish parliament on Friday.
The Swedish government is expected to decide in the coming days whether to ask the country to join the defense alliance.
“Sweden’s membership of NATO would raise the threshold for military conflict and thus have a restraining effect on northern Europe,” the report said at a press conference in Stockholm.
It does not make specific recommendations, but states that “it is not realistic to form bilateral defense alliances outside existing European and Euro-Atlantic structures”.
The report also concludes that “there is no guarantee in the current formats of cooperation that Sweden will be assisted in the event of a serious threat or attack”.
On Thursday, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marina and President Sauli Nīniste released an assessment that the country “must immediately apply for NATO membership”.
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Linde has emphasized that Finland’s actions also affect Sweden and “need to be assessed”.
According to Linde, Russia will take a negative view of both Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, but she said in a conversation with journalists that a “conventional military attack” was not expected.
At the same time, the Swedish Foreign Minister recalled the government’s earlier warning that “an armed attack on Sweden cannot be ruled out”.
For decades, Sweden and Finland have maintained military neutrality, but support for NATO membership has grown among both the public and politicians in both countries since Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on 24 February.
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