Biden mixes up Sweden & Switzerland in NATO gaffe; jokes he's anxious about group's growth

US President, Joe Biden on Thursday declared that he had spoken to the leader of Switzerland, instead of Sweden, to discuss abandoning the neutrality and joining NATO. Speaking at a press conference after concluding a 2-day NATO summit in Madrid, Biden made the gaffe taking the spectators by surprise. He then quickly corrected himself, saying: 'My goodness, I'm getting really anxious about expanding the NATO alliance." 

Biden said, "We've invited two new members to join NATO. It was a historic act." He continued, the American press may remember "when I got a phone call from the leader of Finland saying could he come and see me, then he came the next day and said, ‘Will you support my joining — my country joining NATO?’ We got the telephone. He suggested we call the leader of Switzerland."  He quickly rectified his statement. Switzerland refrained from joining NATO owing to its longstanding neutrality posture. 

Sweden, Finland 'highly capable partners': Biden 

Biden had hailed the two nordic nations Finland and Sweden's membership into NATO as "historic". He had met with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinistö of Finland at the White House to discuss NATO's mutual defence pact for the security of Europe in view of the Russian aggression. He had labelled the two nations as “great democracies" and "highly capable partners" and offered “the strong support of the United States” for their applications “to join the strongest most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world" back in the month of May. “New members joining NATO is not a threat to any nation," Biden said, dismissing Putin's concerns. "It never has been," he had asserted. 

“They meet every NATO requirement and then some," Biden had stated at the time of Finland and Sweden's application, adding that “having two new NATO members in the high north will enhance the security of our alliance.”

As Turkey lifted the objections to Finland and Sweden's NATO membership by singing a trilateral memorandum of understanding at a summit in Madrid, Biden thanked president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his crucial role. "I want to particularly thank you for what you did, putting together the situation with regard to Finland and Sweden, and all the incredible work you're going to try to get the grain out of Ukraine," Biden told Erdoğan during the NATO summit in Madrid. "You're doing a great job," Biden added.