Long road ahead for Sweden and Finland to join NATO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently stated that his country opposes Sweden and Finland’s entry into a transatlantic treaty, as both countries have PKK members.

According to Article 10 of NATO, each founding member state of the Washington Treaty can invite any European country to join the alliance.

However, to become a member of NATO, you must obtain the consent of all members of the bloc.

Before that, it is necessary to go through a long phase of seven steps to fulfill the various conditions and complete legal processes.

In the first stage, coalition experts and representatives of the invited country must discuss the issue of the candidate’s compliance with the political, legal and military requirements of the coalition bloc during the negotiations.

In addition, these meetings determine whether the country is able to fulfill the economic, military, legal, political, and intelligence obligations of military bloc membership.

In the second stage, the invited country sends a formal letter of intent to the Secretary-General, in which it undertakes to assume the obligations of membership of the Alliance.

Then, in the third period, the Transatlantic Treaty Command prepares specialized additional protocols on the country’s accession to the Washington Treaty.

These documents were signed by all coalition member states, thus updating the text of the agreement.

Then, in the fourth stage, the previously signed protocols are ratified by the member states in accordance with their national laws and procedures.

For example, in the United States, a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Senate is required to approve, while in the United Kingdom a parliamentary vote is not required.

In the fifth stage, all members of the Transatlantic Treaty must notify the adoption of the procedures for the accession of a new country to the Washington Treaty.

Then, in the sixth stage, the Secretary-General of the entity officially invites the candidate to join the alliance.

In the seventh and final stage, the new member of the military bloc completes its internal legal process and deposits its instrument of NATO accession with the United States.

mg/ampere