Germany says it will back NATO expansion

Germany will support the admission of Finland and Sweden into the NATO military alliance, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, after the two Nordic states expressed interest in joining up despite decades of neutrality.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday following two days of closed-door meetings with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts in a town near Berlin, Scholz vowed to back both nations’ bid to join the Western military bloc should they submit membership applications.

“For us it is clear: If these two countries decide they should join the NATO alliance then they can count on our support,” he said, adding, “Even in the period before such NATO membership is decided, they can always rely on Germany’s support. As Europeans, we see ourselves obliged to do so anyway.”

“Currently I think the mood in parliament… includes the possibility to go without Sweden,” the FM told the Irish Times in an interview last week. “It would be good to do the same things at the same time as Sweden, but that depends on Swedish decisions. It is too early to guess the date, but I think before the summer we are proceeding.”

Addressing journalists after Scholz on Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said a decision had not yet been made and that “All options are on the table,” comments echoed by Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin.

“Finland and Sweden are facing important decisions regarding their own security,” Marin said, adding that “Russia’s attack on Ukraine has dramatically changed our security environment, and that cannot be undone.”