Sweden’s military integration process with NATO has been running parallel to the accession process, since Sweden submitted the accession protocol to NATO in July 2022.
In practice, Sweden’s NATO integration will continue for many years to come, but as of today, the formal integration process ends.
– It is quite a big event. Together with Finland’s corresponding process, this is one of the fastest integration processes ever in NATO’s history, says Ulf Kristersson.
During the day, a conference will be held in Stockholm, the “NATO Final Integration Conference”, which will end this afternoon with ÖB and NATO’s head of capability development, Philippe Lavigne, signing a joint declaration.
Soldiers and tanks to Latvia
NATO’s formal integration process can only be completed after a country has been ratified, and covers ten areas, such as education, administration and logistics, where certain goals must be met.
At a press conference on Thursday, Ulf Kristersson also announced that the government has now taken the formal decision to give the Armed Forces the task of starting the preparations to send a reduced battalion to Latvia, where tanks will also be included in the form of Leopard and CV90.
– The goal is for that effort to be operational from the beginning of next year after the Riksdag has also made the corresponding decision, says Ulf Kristersson.
