Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO) - 10 Years’ Anniversary
NORDEFCO which emerged as the new format of defence and militarypolitical cooperation between the countries of the Northern Europe is considered to be the logical result of the previous security initiatives of Nordic countries, but at the same time the emergence of this format has taken the cooperation to a whole new level. NORDEFCO has in ten years evolved from the structure aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of defence expenditures to the forum on security issues of the Northern Europe. Nordic countries did not manage, however, to achieve significant progress on most proposals laid out in the Stoltenberg Report of 2009. Nevertheless, as foreign policies of Nordic countries continue to converge, NORDEFCO continues to retain its value and significance, even if it is taken into account that the multilateral cooperation within the framework has not proved as effective as the bilateral cooperation as in the case of Sweden and Finland. At the same time different relations of Nordic countries with the EU and NATO hinders further progress in the sphere of defence integration. NORDEFCO along with other subregional initiatives such as NG12, NB8 and e-PINE (NB8+USA) has the potential to serve as the groundwork for a full-fledged security forum in the Baltic Sea region.