Given Sweden’s concerns about Russian intentions in Europe, is nonalignment still the best policy?

We are an independent country that has chosen for 200 years to be militarily nonaligned. It has served us well. We have to be credible by also showing we are ready to defend ourselves. We have a worsening security situation in our neighborhood. It’s a threat to the European security order since Russia has illegally annexed Crimea. We see threats of the use of nuclear weapons. They have had a very provocative posture in our neighborhood, not that we see they are direct threats to our territorial integrity or our security. There are no direct threats to Sweden. But it’s a behavior that’s been very provocative.

Sweden has been deepening its cooperation with NATO. Will it ever join the alliance?

Right now, we are very comfortable where we are. We don’t want to be under a nuclear weapon umbrella, and we think we should stay militarily nonaligned. We are in a good position, especially now, when we don’t know what will happen with NATO with the new commander in chief in the United States or with Turkey being increasingly difficult, as well. There’s a lot of uncertainty. We don’t know what Trump will do with NATO.

Sweden opened its borders to more than 100,000 refugees in 2015, but has since scaled back. Will Sweden continue to welcome refugees?

It’s not as though we have closed our borders, but we apply a stricter rule book, so to say. We could not take so many people, especially so many children. We needed to have other European countries to step up. Those we gave asylum to are supposed to enjoy the same rights and opportunities and possibilities as those who have been living in Sweden a long time. This is our principle. We have to build houses, we have to make sure there are schools. We needed over 30,000 new teachers all over the country. In the end, you need also public support to continue to be generous. So you need a balance.

What’s your position on banning Muslim veils, as some European countries have?

We don’t have any rules about that. You can wear a head scarf. It’s not a problem.

Do you have any concerns about President-elect Trump?

The lack of conviction about multilateral solutions. Because most of the problems we see are global. If a big country or a superpower like the United States says it will not even honor its signature on the climate deal in Paris, that worries me a lot. We want to find solutions that are of mutual interest, that create a win-win situation with the United States. Engaging in trade will bring more jobs and a better economy on both sides. The trans-Atlantic link is good for security on both sides. And those are the arguments that we have to use, maybe not so much of ideology or party lines or values. Maybe that’s what he will understand best.