US Senate approves Sweden and Finland joining NATO
Created: 08/04/2022Updated: 08/04/2022 02:29
Faster than average: The US Senate votes for Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
© Haiyun Jiang/Pool The New York Times via AP/dpa
Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate voted for the northern expansion of the NATO alliance with above-average speed.
But there were also politicians who had different opinions.
Washington - The US Senate has almost unanimously approved Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO.
Across party lines, 95 senators voted in favor on Wednesday - one voted against.
Democrats and Republicans had earlier expressed a rare unanimity in favor of expanding the alliance to the north.
The US House of Representatives supported the project in July by passing a resolution.
All that was required, however, was approval by the Senate with a two-thirds majority.
Senate reacts unexpectedly quickly
The dissenting vote in the Senate came from Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri.
He argued that the focus should be less on European security and much more on the Chinese threat.
Republican Rand Paul voted present - neither voting in favor nor voting against.
US President Joe Biden had previously advocated the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO and sent the relevant documents to the Senate for consideration in July.
With the vote before the summer break, the Senate reacted faster than average.
Admission requested after Russian war of aggression
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, Finland and Sweden had applied to join the Western Defense Alliance.
So far, the two Nordic EU states have not been members of NATO, but have been close partners.
Before the accession protocols can come into force, they have to be ratified by the 30 NATO member states.
It is questionable whether Turkey will join - it was initially the only country to block the accession process.
The Bundestag and Bundesrat approved the double accession at the beginning of July.
The German Minister of State Tobias Lindner deposited the acceptance documents in Washington in July.
All relevant documents are kept in the USA.
dpa