SCANDINAVIA’S FUTURE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25448, 20 March 1948, Page 7

SCANDINAVIA’S FUTURE

PRIME MINISTERS 1 MEET

“FREEDOM WILL BE DEFENDED” STOCKHOLM, March 18.

The Prime Ministers cf Sweden, Norway and Denmark met in Stockholm to-day for confidential discussions on Scandinavia’s international position. After a five-hour secret meeting they said at a public meeting that they had decided to defend their countries’ freedom against outside aggression. They also denounced Communism and dictatorship. The Swedish Prime Minister (Mr T. Erlander) said that the fight against Communism was part of the defence of Sweden’s freedom and independence. Recent events in Czechoslovakia had unmasked the Communists.

“We are prepared to take part in the defence of freedom and peace but we do not want to relinquish hope for a general world agreement,” he said. The Norwegian Prime Minister (Mr E. Gerhardsen) said that the Communists in Scandinavian countries were too weak for a coup or a revolution, but the danger should not be underrated. The Nordic countries would do their part in the work„of peace by participating in Europe’s economic recovery, which was, perhaps, the t>nly‘ chance of peape and freedom. The Danish Prime Minister (Mr H. Hedtoft) said that while forces were working in Western Europe for stability, the Communists were using all their power to hamper its peaceful development.

In Copenhagen the Danish Minister of Finance (Mr H. C. Hansen) said to-day that Denmark’s defences must be expanded. “We do not want our land to lie open for any aggressor to strangle Danish freedom—from within or from outside,” he said.