Sweden: who needs Nato, when you have the Lisbon Treaty?

Swedish defence minister Karin Enstrom has said her country is not in Nato partly because the EU treaty contains its own security guarantee.

Speaking to EUobserver at the Globsec conference in Bratislava on Saturday (20 April), she said: "If you really read it, the Lisbon Treaty says you must support your EU neighbours with all the necessary means."

Referring to Lisbon's article 42.7, she noted: "Since the EU is not a military alliance, it's not like article five [Nato's collective security clause], but there is this line which says all EU member states must support any other member state if it's attacked or if it's affected by a natural disaster."

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