The war in Ukraine has led many to challenge Rødt and SV on their positions on NATO.
Both parties still want Norway to be outside the defense alliance.
Just as important is a debate about whether Norway should join the EU, says Karsten Friis, senior researcher at Nupi.
Oral surgery: – Did she say that?
– If you want a NATO debate, you should also have an EU debate in Norway, he believes.
EU = security?
He points out that the EU is important when it comes to other forms of warfare, such as computer attacks.
– Given the threat picture such as hacking, acquisitions, espionage and technology, the EU is on its way to emerging as an equally important security policy community as NATO, says Friis.
– It is about the expanded security perspective, he adds.
Legislative change will avoid Stoltenberg baluba
The pro-EU Liberal Party also highlighted such a debate in Dagbladet last week. Liberal Party leader Guri Melby believes that Norway needs more legs to stand on if the United States should become less cooperative in the future.
– The security aspect has been somewhat absent in the Norwegian EU debate. The EU is now discussing how to take a clearer role in security and defense policy, and Denmark is also now considering whether to join this. I hope this can help renew the EU debate in Norway, Melby told Dagbladet.
EU DEBATE: Karsten Friis, senior adviser and leader of the research group for security and defense. Photo: NUPI
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– Far from NATO
Lieutenant Colonel Geir Hågen Karlsen at the Norwegian Defense College is not as convinced.
– If we left NATO, would we have to join the EU to secure defense assistance?
– The EU has marginal strengths, so they will not in any way compensate for NATO membership. It is possible that the EU will become more important, but the defense capacity will continue to be far from what NATO has. The EU’s defense forces have primarily been organized to carry out smaller missions abroad, says Karlsen.
Vedum says no
SP leader and well-known EU opponent Trygve Slagsvold Vedum believes that it has not given Norway any extra challenges that we are not EU members in light of the Ukraine situation.
Punishes Audun’s NATO no: – Unrealistic
– We have close European and international cooperation, but we make our own assessments of what comes from the EU and adapt our decisions to Norwegian conditions.
He points out that the EU has never been a strong defense alliance.
– But we are close to the EU and several of the member countries, and we will always have close political cooperation with them, says the Minister of Finance.
– This is certainly not the time for a new EU debate. We have a high level of trust in our society, and we must take care of that. The current situation is not an argument for shifting more power from local democracies in Norway to bureaucrats in Brussels. It creates distance, not trust, and I think that would be extremely unwise.
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