Sweden plans to speed up Nato analysis to keep pace with Finland

Bloomberg

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde said political parties deliberating a potential application for Nato membership may speed up the process, initially planned to conclude by the end of next month.
The talks should be finalised by May 13, Linde said in an interview with Swedish public radio’s Ekot.
“The situation in Ukraine continues to worsen, Finland has submitted its analysis and there is strong pressure on Sweden to finalise its analysis,” she said.
After Finland’s government completed a white paper on changes to the
nation’s security environment, lawmakers in Helsinki started a debate that is expected to pave the way to an application to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato). Its government has repeatedly said close coordination with Sweden on security policy is a top priority.
Finland, which has the European Union’s longest border with Russia, is Sweden’s closest ally, and a Finnish Nato bid would affect the country’s security environment, Linde said. “Hence, it is very important that we have full insight into each other’s processes, which we do, and that we are reasonably coordinated,” she said.
Swedish support for joining the defense bloc has surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and earlier this week a poll commissioned by daily tabloid Aftonbladet showed as many as 57% of the respondents support a membership.