NATO: Macron signed the accession protocols of Sweden and Finland

President Emmanuel Macron signed and ratified on behalf of France the admission protocols of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Élysée announced yesterday, Saturday.

The French National Assembly had approved the accession of the two Nordic states to NATO on August 2.

“The dominant choice of Finland and Sweden, European partners, will allow to increase their security in the face of the threat of their neighbor and will make a significant contribution, taking into account their capabilities, to our collective (defense) position and to our European security “, the French presidency said yesterday.

Stockholm and Helsinki made the historic decision to abandon their neutrality due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Although they were NATO partners, they remained outside the alliance for decades.

The approval of all thirty of its member states is required for the two countries to join it and for Article 5 to apply to them as well.

Article 5 of NATO’s founding convention, established in 1949 at the start of the Cold War, provides for a joint response in the event of an attack against any member state.

The most serious obstacle to the completion of the accession process is Turkey from the outset, as Ankara threatens to “freeze” it because it primarily accuses Stockholm and Helsinki of protecting members of the separatist armed Kurdish movement Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other organizations which he describes as “terrorist”.

Source: AMPE