Finland, Sweden Apply to Join NATO

Spurred by Russian invasion of Ukraine, countries make big move
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 18, 2022 6:02 AM CDT
Finland, Sweden Officially Want Their NATO Cards
Finland's ambassador to NATO Klaus Korhonen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Sweden's ambassador to NATO Axel Wernhoff attend a ceremony to mark Sweden's and Finland's application for membership in Brussels on Wednesday.   (Johanna Geron/Pool via AP)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the military alliance stands ready to seize a historic moment and move quickly on allowing Finland and Sweden to join its ranks, after the two countries submitted their membership requests. The official applications, handed over by Finland's and Sweden's ambassadors to NATO, set a security clock ticking. Russia, whose war on Ukraine spurred them to join the military organization, has warned that it wouldn't welcome such a move and could respond. "I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners," Stoltenberg said, per the AP. "All allies agree on the importance of NATO enlargement. We all agree that we must stand together, and we all agree that this is [a] historic moment which we must seize."

"This is a good day at a critical moment for our security,” a beaming Stoltenberg said as he stood alongside the two envoys, with NATO, Finnish, and Swedish flags at their backs. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that the alliance stop expanding toward Russia's borders, and several NATO allies, led by the United States and Britain, have signaled that they stand ready to provide security support to Finland and Sweden should he try to provoke or destabilize them during the time it takes to become full members. The countries, which currently cooperate closely with NATO, will only benefit from its Article 5 security guarantee—the part of the alliance's founding treaty that pledges that any attack on one member would be considered an attack on them all—once the membership ratification process is concluded, probably in a few months.

For now though, the application must be weighed by the 30 member countries. That process is expected to take about two weeks, although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed reservations about Finland and Sweden joining. If his objections are overcome, and accession talks go as well as expected, the two could become members within a few months. The process usually takes eight to 12 months, but NATO wants to move quickly given the threat from Russia hanging over the Nordic countries' heads. Canada, for example, says that it expects to ratify their accession protocol in just a few days, while in the Baltic region, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tweeted: "I encourage a rapid accession process. We in Estonia will do our part fast."

(More NATO stories.)

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