Sweden and Finland submitted their candidacies for the Defense Alliance this morning (Wednesday), NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced.
Now, 30 members of the organization will be required to vote in favor of joining amid reservations on the part of Turkey for the move.
"I welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
"You are our closest partners," Stoltenberg declared after receiving letters of request from the Nordic ambassadors at the organization's headquarters in Brussels. "This is a good day at a critical moment for our security," he added.
Once the two governments have approved the move, the ball is passed to the member states of the alliance in a process which is expected to take at least several weeks and which may encounter several more state obstacles.
Despite promises of a "quick and smooth" procedure, Ankara is carefully considering the two's joining and is reluctant in light of Finland and Sweden's alleged support for Kurdish activists and organizations that are perceived by Turkey as a threat to its security.
On the other hand, initial opposition may be insistence on the part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before negotiations with the West.
Biden will host the Swedish Prime Minister
Tomorrow US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson Finnish President Sauli Ninista.
Both.
Will host the Swedish Prime Minister, Photo: AP
As mentioned, each of the 30 NATO members has a veto right over the accession of other countries to the Alliance, which in practice means that a unanimous decision is required to approve the move.
Sweden and Finland are seeking to join the defense alliance following the devastating invasion of Ukraine on February 24, a unilateral military move that has caused a strategic explosion on the European continent, mainly on the part of countries that feel threatened by the Moscow Kremlin.
Meanwhile, fighting continues in the Donbas region and in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol it has been reported that dozens of soldiers who were fortified in the compound of a metal factory laid down their weapons, surrendered to the Russian forces and were taken by buses to a place of detention.
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