Neutral Sweden Unlikely to Join NATO in Near Future

Sweden is unlikely to abandon its neutrality and join NATO in the near future, analysts suppose.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — Sweden is unlikely to abandon its neutrality and join NATO in the near future, analysts told Sputnik on Wednesday following claims by a local lawmaker about a growing pro-NATO sentiment in the country.

On Tuesday, a member of the Swedish parliament from the opposition Moderate Party, Olof Lavesson, told Sputnik that various parties in the parliament are close to agreeing on the necessity "to look into NATO as well as other alliance."

The ruling Social Democratic Party is known for its opposition to joining NATO.

"Currently, I do not think Sweden is likely to join the alliance. But if the situation in Ukraine worsens and the fighting spreads then that could serve as a game changer," Nordic defense and security policy researcher Peter Viggo Jakobsen at the Institute for Strategy of the Royal Danish Defense College told Sputnik.

Recent discussions on NATO membership were triggered by the Ukrainian crisis, in which Sweden, as well as other Western states, see Russian responsibility.

Swedish and Finnish people do not show support for abandoning neutrality, Johan Backman, Finnish political activist and adjunct professor in the sociology of law at the University of Helsinki, argues.

"I do not think Sweden will join NATO… The popularity of NATO among Swedes is slightly higher than among Finns. According to polls, maximum 30 percent of Finns support membership in NATO, while the figure is up to 40 percent for Swedes. The percentage changes often, and usually polls do not reach all population," Backman said.

The analyst emphasized that NATO is using active propaganda to gain public support for membership in the alliance by Finland and Sweden.

"The NATO hawks have the following tactics in Finland and Sweden: to change the popularity over 50 percent by means of propaganda and provocation, and then carry out decisive means to reach NATO-membership, preferably without referendum," Backman claimed.

The three ways for a country to become a NATO member is by referendum, via common decision of the government leadership, and through parliament vote.

NATO membership is unpopular not only among common people in Finland and Sweden, but also among major political forces. The ruling party in Sweden is against the idea, while in Finland "demanding NATO-membership has become a political suicide," the expert explained.

Sweden has been neutral since the early 19th century. Stockholm opted not to join NATO in 1949, declaring a security policy of non-alignment.