Swedes in poll say ‘too many sacrifices’ made for Nato bid

STOCKHOLM - A majority of Swedes believe their country made “too many sacrifices” to become a member of Nato, but agreed Sweden’s security would be strengthened, a poll released on March 1 showed.

Sweden is on track to become the 32nd member of the military alliance within days, after

last holdout Hungary ratified its bid

on Feb 26.

Ending two centuries of military non-alignment, the Nordic country applied for Nato membership along with Finland in the wake of

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to a poll conducted by analyst firm Indikator for Swedish broadcaster SR, 55 per cent of respondents believed the Scandinavian country “has made too many sacrifices to join Nato”. Meanwhile, 77 per cent believed that “Sweden’s security is strengthened” by its membership.

The survey polled 2,413 people in February. But no questions were asked about the type of sacrifices people took issue with.

The results show that Swedes see “the Nato process for the complicated issue it has been”, Mr Per Oleskog Tryggvason, head of research at Indikator, told AFP.

“The opinion that Sweden’s security is strengthened by Nato membership, for that there is an overwhelming consensus. But you can see that the road there has not been straightforward,” he said.

Sweden’s bid

primarily faced opposition from Turkey,

which accused the Nordic country of providing a safe haven for dozens of suspects it believes are linked to a failed 2016 coup attempt and Kurdish separatists.

Sweden came to an agreement with Turkey in 2022, committing to consider its extradition requests and to lift an arms embargo dating to Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into Syria.

It also amended its Constitution in order to beef up anti-terror legislation. AFP