– We can think of it as the mountain weather rules: Always be prepared, says Nergaard to NTB.
She understands that people can be a bit confused by being told on the one hand that they should have emergency stocks of water and food, and on the other being assured that there is no immediate threat to Norway.
– It is demanding to deal with a more uncertain and dangerous world, she says.
– But I think that it contributes to a credible deterrent that we are both mentally and practically prepared for all possibilities, that we have a certain idea about what we do and how we act if something were to happen, says Nergaard.
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– The world has fundamentally changed
In the office at NATO headquarters, the friendly diplomat from Karasjok is surrounded by piles of papers. A pile of documents marked “Top secret” is hastily cleared away. Nergaard knows most about what goes on in the back rooms of NATO and how the organization is preparing for a new era.
It started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Post-war peace optimism was finally buried.
– This is not a temporary crisis that you will come out of at the other end. The experience of many NATO countries is that the world has changed fundamentally, almost fundamentally, for a long time to come, says Nergaard.
That change has consequences. Not just for NATO and for the individual countries’ defense budgets, but for the whole of society, she believes.
– It is quite obvious that we must all invest much more in defense and security and preparedness going forward. We base ourselves on a strong defence, but also credible deterrence. NATO’s Article 5 is central here. And for deterrence to be credible, we must invest more in defence.
Article 5 states that an attack on one NATO country is to be considered an attack on all.
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Require new lifts
There is a need for a changed priority in social efforts, says Nergaard, knowing that more money for defense means less for areas such as schools and health.
– What we are trying to get across from here is that this will require a completely different lift from us for a long time to come, which will affect many more people through changed priorities in several areas, says the NATO ambassador.
Because it’s one thing to buy more planes and submarines and train more soldiers. Another is all that is needed.
– The field which is now receiving a lot of attention and which is extremely important, is what is called support. This includes ensuring that the forces can be brought to where they are needed, with what they need. Here we are talking about ports, roads, airports, railways and everything else that goes with it, such as energy, telecoms and health, says Nergaard.
National transport plan
– We are going to have to invest more in civil and multi-use infrastructure throughout the country and especially in the areas that are central to the deployment of forces to Finland and Sweden, such as the Ofoten area, Trøndelag and the Oslofjord. There are a number of capacities that we must have in place in order to have a credible enough deterrent, the ambassador insists.
– So NATO’s need for deterrence will have an impact on all areas of society?
– Yes actually. That is the big change. Putting ourselves in a position, together with our allies, to take care of the defense of Norway and the Nordic region in a credible way will require something from all sectors of society.
Nergaard has already had a state secretary from the Ministry of Transport visit to see how the thinking can be incorporated into the new national transport plan to be presented on 22 March.
In May, the Norwegian Total Defense Forum will visit for the first time in six years.
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– Enormous possibilities
On Monday, Sweden’s flag was finally raised outside NATO. Sweden’s NATO membership changes the Nordic defence, Nergaard believes.
– With Sweden’s entry, all security policy gray areas in Northern Europe are gone. We can now formulate all policies concerning the defense of our areas, together. It offers enormous opportunities, she says.
With Sweden and Finland in NATO, only Iceland and Norway in Northern Europe are not members of both the EU and NATO. The two institutions have strengthened strategic cooperation in defense and security policy in recent years.
– It is worth noting that the EU, through the Ukraine crisis, has become a much more important player in security policy. But we are not a part of the political discussions that shape the countries’ view of what this war means for Europe and for European security, says Nergaard.
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