NATO countries officially sign membership of Sweden and Finland | NOW

The NATO countries officially signed on Tuesday the accession of Sweden and Finland to the military alliance. This means that aspiring members are now allowed to participate in the discussion, but not yet to vote.

Sweden and Finland began talks on Monday to prepare them for membership. For former candidate members, this process took several months, but now it was completed in one day. Indeed, the two countries have been working closely with NATO for years.

“This is truly a historic moment for Finland, Sweden and NATO and for our common security,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the signing ceremony. On behalf of the Netherlands, outgoing ambassador Marisa Gerards signed. Minister Wopke Hoekstra (Foreign Affairs) speaks of a “substantial step for our security”.

According to Hoekstra, joining NATO also means that the Netherlands will become more secure, because “two EU allies who are very important to the Netherlands are now also joining NATO”. According to Hoekstra, Finland and Sweden are two countries that “have their military affairs in order”.

Effective membership will take months

Both candidates must now obtain the approval of the parliaments of most of the thirty member states. The so-called ratification is expected to take several months. The Dutch cabinet sends the associated bill to the Council of State for an urgent opinion. This advice should be finalized on Thursday, after which the draft will be sent to the House of Representatives and the Senate. Hoekstra hopes that the two Houses will soon proceed with the treatment.

Sweden and Finland cannot yet rely on NATO protection. However, both countries have received security guarantees from several countries. The US, UK, Germany and other Scandinavian NATO members, among others, have pledged to help Sweden and Finland in the event of an attack.

Turkey decided last week at the NATO summit in Madrid that it would no longer oppose the membership of Sweden and Finland. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that Turkey will always prevent the accession of the two countries if, according to him, they do not sufficiently take on their commitments concerning, for example, the fight against the Kurdish resistance movement PKK.