NATO member countries’ ambassadors signed the Accession Protocols for Finland and Sweden at NATO Headquarters on Tuesday, in the presence of Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde. “This is truly an historic moment. For Finland, for Sweden, for NATO, and for our shared security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Allies signed the Accession Protocols for Finland and Sweden at NATO Headquarters on Tuesday in the presence of Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has taken a leap forward by signing the Accession Protocols for Finland and Sweden on Tuesday, 5 July. The membership bids of the two nations will now be sent to the alliance capitals for legislative approvals and possible political trouble in Turkey.
This move has now increased Russia’s strategic isolation in the wake of its invasion on neighboring Ukraine in February this year. Allied leaders agreed to invite Finland and Sweden to join NATO alliance following the agreement of a trilateral memorandum between Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden, last week at the Madrid summit.
“This is a good day for Finland and Sweden, and a good day for NATO. With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
The 30 ambassadors and permanent representatives formally agreed to the decisions made at the NATO summit last week when the alliance made the historic decision to invite Finland and Sweden to join the military club.
With the accession protocols signed, each of the ally countries now have to ratify them in their national assemblies as per their individual national procedures.
Despite the alliance’s agreement, Turkey’s legislative approval could yet pose problems for their official inclusion as members.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto expressed his gratitude and said his country will look forward to working with NATO ally countries to safeguard a “secure and prosperous Euro-Atlantic region.”
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed on April 4, 1949, as a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty), which sought to create an opposing force to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II.
The current member states of NATO are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, North Macedonia, Norway, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Estonia, France, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States.
