Statement Party of the European Left on the NATO applications of Sweden and Finland

Party of the European Left
Square de Meeeus 25, 1000 Brussels Belgium
https://www.european-left.org/

Press release

On the NATO applications of Sweden and Finland

Published on: 19.05.2022

On May 18, Sweden and Finland submitted their applications for NATO membership in Brussels. The day before, the foreign ministers of both countries signed the applications to join NATO. Heinz Bierbaum, the President of the Party of the European Left, comments:

“Both countries are giving up their tradition of military non-alignment and want to join NATO. The war on Ukraine has upended the long standing status quo. Sweden has been neutral for the last 200 years. Even if we understand the concerns of the Finish population, we believe that abandoning the status of neutrality is wrong. It doesn’t give Finland more security. It will mean the abandoning of the official policy of avoiding a confrontation with its eastern neighbour.

NATO is no guarantee for security and peace: the alliance won’t make Europe a safer place.It is an interest-driven military alliance. The constant lack of criticism of its member states regarding violations of international law of other member states, like recently in north of Iraq makes it very clear why principled and fundamental criticism of the alliance is still necessary.

Instead of more NATO, we need a policy of detente. A more just and peaceful world must be built on political agreements and not on military alliances! â€