Sweden Joins NATO

Sweden entered the membership debate with decades of practical cooperation already behind it. It joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1994, appointed an ambassador to the alliance in 1998, and later established a delegation in Brussels. Exercises, operations, and a 2016 Host Nation Support Agreement developed the ability to work with NATO forces while Sweden remained outside the treaty's membership. [1]

Ulf Kristersson handed Sweden’s instrument of accession to the American secretary of state in Washington on 7 March 2024. As the treaty’s depositary, the United States received the document that made Sweden NATO’s 32nd member. Its flag rose at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels four days later. [2] [3]

Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine had changed the Swedish debate over security. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in 2022, abandoning their policy of remaining outside military alliances, and Finland entered the following year. Sweden’s accession completed a process begun under Magdalena Andersson’s government and continued under Kristersson. [3] [1]

Speaking from Washington that evening, Kristersson acknowledged those who opposed membership as well as those who welcomed it. He set out what the new treaty obligations meant after two centuries of military nonalignment: Sweden would train and plan with its allies and participate in collective defense, while retaining its own decisions about sending Swedish forces. [3]

Sweden's parliament approved membership in March 2023, but the final allied ratifications came from Türkiye in January 2024 and Hungary in March. [1]

Related Diplomats

1. Urban Ahlin [4] [5]

Related Reading

• Sweden and the United States