This Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland would defend Sweden and Finland if these countries happened to be attacked on their way to joining NATO. 

“I want to make it clear that in the event of an attack on Sweden and Finland during their accession process, Poland will come to their aid,” Morawiecki during the Strategic Ark conference in Warsaw.

After over 50 years of military neutrality, both Sweden and Finland have officially submitted their applications to join the Transatlantic Alliance, as a response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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At the conference, Morawiecki also called for the creation of permanent NATO bases on the alliance’s eastern flank, and said, “Poland is ready to build such bases.”

The ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has been a powerful reminder of the importance of a security strategy of the West in the midst of growing threats coming from third countries such as Russia. 

Since Russia’s military mobility on the Ukrainian border began to increase last November, NATO has increased its military build-up on its eastern flank, in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

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NATO’s headquarters are located in the Belgian capital, Brussels, where each member state operates with permanent representations led by an ambassador. The latter’s role is to defend the interests of the country his or her country, to conduct consultations and participate in the decision-making process. 

Article 5 of the organisation’s charter is often referred to in the media nowadays as it stipulates that if a NATO ally falls victim to armed aggression, every other member of the alliance is expected to take action in support of the attacked country.

Leaders of NATO countries meet at regular summits every two years. As could be observed in the last few weeks, it also happens that irregular summits are organised in the case of exceptional events, such as the current war in Eastern Europe. The following regular summit is to take place in Madrid on the 29th and 30th of June.

Image: Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen