NATO ready to sign accession protocol for Sweden, Finland: NPR
Bernat Armangue / AP
BRUSSELS – The 30 NATO allies will sign the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, sending the two nations’ offers of membership to the alliance’s capitals for approval of the legislation.
The move will further increase Russia’s strategic isolation in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February and military fighting there since.
The 30 ambassadors and permanent representatives will formally approve the decisions from last week’s NATO summit when the alliance made the historic decision to invite Russia’s neighbor Finland and Scandinavian partner Sweden to join the military club.
Despite the agreement in the alliance, a parliamentary approval in the member state of Turkey can still pose problems for their final inclusion as members.
Last week, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara could still block the process if the two countries do not fully meet Turkey’s demands to extradite terror suspects with links to banned Kurdish groups or the network of an exile priest accused of a failed 2016 coup in Turkey. .
He said the Turkish parliament could refuse to ratify the agreement. This is a potent threat because accession to NATO must be formally approved by all 30 member states, giving everyone a blocking right.
Tuesday’s expected signing for both nations is already deeper into NATO’s trap. As close partners, they have already participated in some meetings that dealt with issues that directly affected them. As invited guests, they can attend all meetings of the ambassadors, even if they do not yet have the right to vote.