Tuomioja is skeptical of Finnish NATO membership and says that the Finnish security situation is relatively safe.

- We have a trained military reserve of 280,000 soldiers - not even larger countries in Europe have more.

Finnish Social Democrat Erkki Tuomioja, Deputy Chairman of the Riksdag's Foreign Affairs Committee and member of the Defense Committee.

He leads the Finnish Social Democrats' working group on defense issues and has previously been Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Erkki Tuomioja instead wants to see a defense alliance between Sweden and Finland where the United States is a third outside partner.

- That could be enough.

It would not cause the same potential problems as a NATO membership.

Tuomioja: Finnish-Swedish alliance has been discussed

Erkki Tuomioja says in Huvudstadsbladet that the idea of ​​an in-depth collaboration has already been discussed.

- We have had digital meetings with the Social Democrats in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees in both countries.

We have taken up the matter and there has been no negative reaction.

I know that Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) has spoken with our Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen (C) and that the idea is up for discussion.

Wallmark (M): Hultqvist does not have a mandate

On Sunday, the Moderates' foreign policy spokesperson reacted to information that the Finnish and Swedish Ministers of Defense had discussed a defense alliance.

- It is very serious, I would say.

It is not an alternative, nothing that has been discussed in Sweden, nor something that Peter Hultqvist has a mandate for, Wallmark tells Swedish Radio.

According to Expressen's political commentator Helena Gissén, it is not in itself remarkable that Finnish and Swedish Social Democrats have discussed defense issues.

The question is, however, whether the talks took place after the government started up the special cross-party group that was created as a result of the Ukraine war.

- Should it be the case that these contacts have been made recently while the analysis group has been running, then I can understand that there is a criticism of it, says Gissén in SVT's Agenda.

Hultqvist: No proposal on the table

According to Sweden's Minister of Defense, there is no proposal for a Finnish-Swedish defense alliance.

"I do not comment on confidential conversations.

There is no such proposal on the table, and nothing else either, in the discussions we have with the other parties in the Swedish parliament, "Hultqvist wrote to TT on Saturday.

Nor does Finland's Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen (C) want to be involved in such a proposal.

“Sweden is our closest partner in our defense cooperation.

We have started working more and more closely together and will probably continue to do so.

But we do not have a mutual defense alliance of the kind that has been talked about in the preparation ", Kaikkonen writes in a text message to Huvudstadsbladet.