The ability to maintain a modern high-tech defence has been one of the main reasons for three Nordic countries to explore cooperation possibilities in the field of security. The so-called Stoltenberg report, named after its author, the former Norwegian long-time minister and politician Thorvald Stoltenberg, draws up proposals for closer foreign and security policy cooperation between Norway, Sweden and Finland.|
Jervell takes new submarines as a topical example. Submarines are so expensive that it is a better idea to develop a joint force, said Jervell when presenting the Stoltenberg report in Tallinn in November at an event hosted by the International Centre for Defence Studies in Estonia and the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Estonia. The cooperation proposals in the Stoltenberg report are unique in the sense that Norway is a NATO-country, whereas Sweden and Finland are not. - One should not create security hubs, but be inclusive, Margus Kolga, the Estonian Foreign Ministry underscored in his comment to the presentation. Duplicating, replacing and undermining were epithets used by the Estonian Defence Ministry representatives. Jervell characterised the proposals in the report as a pragmatic response to the regionalisation taking place all over the globe, a result of new cooperation made possible after the end of the cold war. - There are historic reasons for Sweden and Finland not to have become NATO-members at this stage. And according to Jervell we have to remember that there are clearly enthusiastic non-members of NATO, just as there are less or non-enthusiastic members in the European Union, taking Norway as an EEA-country as an example. The Stoltenberg report introduces thirteen proposals for cooperation in the field of defence between Norway, Sweden and Finland, among these a Nordic stabilisation task force, an amphibious unit, a maritime response force and monitoring system, a disaster response unit and a war crimes investigation unit. The most controversial ones, judging from the public response, seem to be a proposed Nordic declaration of solidarity and cooperation on surveillance of Icelandic airspace following the US decision to leave the Icelandic base Keflavik in 2006. |
Nordic Cooperation on Foreign and Security Policy
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- As the costs of high-tech defence rise at an exhilarating pace there is a risk that the units will become too small and simply reach a critical level as to efficiency, says Sverre Jervell, one of the Norwegian experts provided by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work out the report, published earlier this year. |