Page 12 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

This year’s topic is “Security in Northern Europe after Crimea, Brexit and the U.S. election”. Let us dwell for a
moment on this extraordinary combination of words in one sentence: “Security in Northern Europe. After
Crimea. Brexit. And the U.S. election”…

Imagine you just woke up from a three-year hibernation and were told that Russia has taken a part of
Ukraine, the UK has decided to leave the European Union and Donald Trump is now the new president of the
United States.

Would you believe it?

In these days of winter sports, it’s like being told that Sweden has beaten Norway in the Cross-Country World
Cup.

It just wouldn’t seem very likely.

Ok, perhaps this is too grave to joke about.
After all, we take skiing very seriously up here.

But making fun of each other has been the social glue of Nordic cooperation for centuries, and I see no reason
to stop now.

Dear friends,

We meet in challenging times.

Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the following and continuing destabilization of Eastern Ukraine
changed the European security landscape almost overnight.

Our increasingly assertive neighbor has demonstrated their will and ability to use military force and other
more covert means in order to achieve their objectives.

Covert means that are specifically designed to cast doubt in decision making processes.

And, by doing so, they violated international law and shook the very foundation of the framework for peace
and stability that we all built together on the ruins of two devastating world wars.

The Nordic and the Baltic countries had to think about security in a new way.

The Eastern European countries had to think about security in a new way.

And NATO as well as the EU had to think about security in a new way.

We all had to adapt quickly and united to a new, uncertain and unpredictable security environment. The EU
and the US imposed restrictive measures, which Norway and other non-EU countries adopted in solidarity.

And as an alliance, NATO demonstrated its ability to rapidly adjust as well as provide reassurance to our
Eastern allies.

I won’t take up your time by telling you a story you all know. But I want to point out that this was a dramatic
change by way of external developments. Something that happened outside of our countries, but with great
implications for our countries.

And by “our countries” I mean the transatlantic alliance and the Nordics.
Second Line of Defense

Page 11