BY CARL-ERIK ISACCSSON
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - As Washington leads the imperialist drive to extend the NATO military alliance into eastern and central Europe, the Swedish ruling class has become increasingly active in defending its imperialist interests in the Baltic region. Both the Social Democratic foreign minister Lena Hjelm-Wallén and Conservative opposition leader Carl Bildt have made statements in favor of the right of any nation to join the military alliances of their choice, reflecting their discontent with the fact that the Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - are not slated to be included in the first round of NATO expansion. The U.S.-dominated alliance is expected to move to take in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland this year.

The foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland made a joint statement demanding that while they remain nonaligned countries for the time being, the doors of NATO should be open if they want to join the alliance later. Washington's position on the expansion of NATO into the Baltic states is "Not yet, but later."

The push to expand NATO is part of the imperialists' preparations to directly assault the Russian workers state - the first place where working people overthrew capitalist rule and established the dictatorship of the proletariat. The imperialists need to overturn the social relations established as a conquest of the October 1917 revolution in Russia - the world's number-two strategic nuclear power - in order to advance their aim of restoring capitalism not only there, but everywhere that the propertied classes have been expropriated, from eastern Germany to the Pacific Ocean.

U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright suggested Washington's aims bluntly in an article printed in the February 15 Economist. "What logic would dictate that we freeze NATO's eastern edges where they presently lie, along the line where the Red Army stopped in the spring of 1945."

Finland and the Baltic states are of military strategic importance in Washington's war drive. Finland is the only imperialist country that has a long border with Russia, and it was in the Baltic states that the Soviet Union concentrated most of its military installations - bases and troops - to counter an attack by NATO during the cold war. Today only Kalliningrad is left, a Russian military base sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

Differences between Bonn, Washington
While there is substantial agreement among the NATO governments on taking in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, Washington's plans for further expansion of NATO east and northward are not so welcomed by Bonn and Paris. Bonn would favor bringing Austria into NATO, the conservative Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported, but not Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, or any of the other countries bordering Russia. The German rulers know this would put a strain on relations between Bonn and Moscow. Accounting for two-thirds of the credits and aid the Russian government receives from the imperialist countries, Bonn is Moscow's biggest trade partner.

The French government is now demanding a legally binding agreement between NATO and Moscow as a condition for Paris rejoining the inner command structure of NATO. This would effectively delay and erode the process of the eastward expansion of NATO. When Boris Yeltsin recently met German chancellor Helmut Kohl in Baden-Baden, Germany, they announced a possible meeting on May 27 in Paris between Moscow and NATO to sign such an accord. The rulers in Sweden and Finland fear that such an agreement could block membership of the Baltic states in NATO for the foreseeable future.

Svenska Dagbladet commented favorably on the appointment of Ronald Asmus as the assistant chief in Europe for the U.S. State Department, in an April 2 article headlined, "Appointment in Washington marks interest for the Baltic states." Asmus is the author of a report from the California- based Rand Institute that argues that the inclusion of the Baltic states in NATO is too risky in the first round, and that Sweden and Finland should take more responsibility for the defense of the Baltic states in a defensive pact with those governments for the time being. This is a proposal that neither Stockholm nor Helsinki support.

But in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet last June, Asmus also openly stated that Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic states jointly should be taken into NATO later. "Today there is talk about the expansion of NATO eastward, but its only a question of time until it will be talking about a northward expansion," the paper quotes Asmus as saying.

U.S. secretary of state Albright reportedly made similar promises to the Estonian foreign minister, who visited Washington in late March.

London and Oslo are opposed to taking the Baltic states into NATO, while the government of Denmark is in favor. Their respective positions reflect the importance Washington will give them as allies in either case. London's and Oslo's importance will decrease if the Baltic states are taken in, while Denmark, Sweden, and Finland expect to gain a more prominent position as allies.

Paris proposes military wing of EU
In mid-March, Paris proposed that the Western European Union (WEU) - today not more than a paper organization made up of the members of NATO in Europe -should move toward merging with European Union (EU). The final step of the proposed merger would have the member states of the EU formalize a military pact. The proposal was soon backed by the governments of Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Spain.

The plan was discussed by the EU foreign ministers at the European Union's 40-year anniversary celebration in Rome in late March, where divisions and disagreements could not be hidden. "Only one country has to oppose the proposal to turn it down," noted Irish foreign minister Dick Spring. Dublin - along with Finland, Sweden and Austria - is one of the so- called neutral members of the EU. These four governments, who are not members of NATO, have been cool to Paris's scheme.

Hjelm-Wallén was asked at a press conference whether she would veto the proposal, and cautiously answered, "You don't start a negotiation with a veto." British foreign minister Malcolm Rifkind, who was said to be a mighty ally of Hjelm- Wallén in the discussions, commented, "It is not to the advantage of NATO that the EU is transformed into an organization of collective security." Both London and Stockholm argue that the EU should first and foremost be a customs union with a minimum of joint decision making in other areas and that the union should be widened eastward. The British government is vehemently opposed to the merger plan and has threatened to veto it.

The Swedish government is especially pushing for the Baltic states to be taken into the EU. Stockholm argues that if the European Union can be identified as a military pact similar to NATO - as the proposal to merge the WEU and EU indicates -Moscow's opposition to the Baltic states' EU membership will be similar to its opposition to their NATO membership. Officials in both London and Stockholm also stress the indispensable role Washington's participation has in the military alliance in Europe.

The enlargement of the EU into eastern and central Europe is a top priority for the rulers in Sweden. Percy Barnevik recently stated that the enlargement of EU into eastern Europe is a far more important project than European Monetary Union (EMU). Barnevik has just taken over as chairman in Investor, the investment company of the Wallenbergs - the most powerful ruling family in Sweden.

The Swedish social democratic government has not yet taken a position on whether Stockholm will join EMU when it is scheduled to begin in January 1999. When the governments of Finland and Italy joined the exchange rate system (EMR) between the currencies in Europe last year - seen as a step in preparation for the monetary union - Swedish finance minister Erik Asbrink said it was not necessary for Sweden to do so to qualify for EMU from the start. Currencies in the EMR are pegged to the mark, with an allowed variation above or below the German currency. At that time - in the fall of 1996 - the Swedish krona had regained much of what it lost in the 1992-93 currency crises, interest rates were low, and inflation the last 12 month was the lowest in Europe.

The government and employers in Sweden have made advances in lowering sick-leave payments and unemployment benefits without stirring up the kinds of labor protests that have taken place in Germany and France. German finance minister Theo Waigel praised the Swedish social democrats for these accomplishments, while criticizing German social democracy as financially irresponsible.

The Swedish government has a "wait and see" position on the EMU similar to that of the British government. It says that the criteria for entering the monetary union - such as having a deficit of not more than 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product -should be strictly applied, thus projecting the image of a country that is a relating to the EMU from the position of strength. Stockholm says it will have a balanced budget in 1998 and a surplus after that. With elections coming next year, the social democrats say that the surplus should be used by local governments to hire more workers in health care, child care and education.

In the government's budget plans published April 15, some 4 billion krona is allotted to the local governments for that purpose in 1997, and 8 billion krona in 1998 (1$US = 7.7 krona.) The government also projects making it harder to qualify for unemployment benefits, while raising the amount paid from 75 percent of a worker's pay to 80 percent, beginning Oct. 1, 1997.

Carl-Erik Isacsson is a member of the metal workers union in Sodertalje, Sweden.  
 
 
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