site.btaSweden's Parliament Deputy Speaker Lundgren Addresses NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Speaking at the plenary session of the Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NPA) in Sofia on Monday, Sweden’s Parliament Third Deputy Speaker Kerstin Lundgren said that never before have so many of Europe’s countries collaborated so closely and in so many ways. "Our Europe, a continent that has been marked over the centuries more by war and conflict than by peaceful coexistence, is now to a great extent bound together by a defence alliance and by the European Union," she noted.

This is the first time a Swedish parliamentarian is taking part in the work of an NPA Spring Session since the country became a full NATO member earlier this year.

"Russia’s brutal aggression towards Ukraine is not only an attack on their citizens, their independence, and democracy, but also on the European security order," Lundgren said.

It is difficult to imagine a place that is better suited for a meeting such as this than Sofia, the capital of a country that, for more than a thousand years, has stood up to surrounding empires in defence of the right of the nation to choose its own destiny, she noted.

"From a Swedish perspective, the war has profound ramifications for our security policy. Less than three months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish government, with broad support from the parliament as well as the public, submitted an application for NATO membership. This decision ended our country’s centuries of military non-alignment," Lundgren  said.  

"I see in many places in my country a strong will to contribute to a positive fellowship built on shared values, a strong will to be an active ally that contributes to the defence of freedom and democracy in the whole of Europe, and a strong will to contribute to an alliance that continues to support Ukraine for as long as it takes," she noted.