On May 30, Emma Ashford published an article in Bloomberg calling attention to important considerations that should be taken into account with respect to Sweden and Finland’s potential accession to NATO.
“There are only two clear-cut benefits to bringing in the two Nordic nations. The first is symbolic: providing a clear demonstration of European and democratic solidarity against Russian aggression in Eastern Europe. The second is technical: Admitting Finland and Sweden would better align the membership of NATO with that of the EU, avoiding the unlikely but problematic scenario in which an EU member state is subject to aggression but is not covered by NATO’s Article 5 mutual-defense pact,” Ashford wrote. “In every other respect, however, the question of Finnish and Swedish membership is more complicated and worrisome.”
The article was also published in the Washington Post.
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