(TotalConservative.com) – After over a year of negotiations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will accept Sweden as its 32nd member nation.
On Monday, Feb. 26, NATO officially cleared the Scandinavian nation to join the intergovernmental military alliance established shortly after the conclusion of World War II with the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty.
Hungary was the last nation to be persuaded, and its congress finally approved the bid, much to the relief of the other alliance member nations. For a nation to be permitted into the alliance, all present members must approve of that nation’s entry.
The prime minister of Sweden, Ulk Kristersson, described the occasion in a social media post as a “historic day.” Kristersson said that the nation “stands ready” to take on the responsibility of securing the Euro-Atlantic.
During a press conference, the Swedish Prime Minister mentioned the threat of Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, and said that it can “certainly” be expected that the Kremlin will not like the news of Sweden “becoming a member… nor Finland.”
Finland joined NATO in April 2023 after a quick approval by the parliaments of all member nations, but Sweden’s approval was delayed by Turkey and Hungary. Turkey’s parliament changed its mind at the end of January, while Hungary held up the approval by another month.
Kristersson added during the press conference that “for the first time in 500 years,” there will be a “common defense” for “Nordic countries,” which he said “remain friends” and “become allies.”
Sweden broke nearly two hundred years of neutrality by applying for NATO membership on May 18, 2022, alongside Finland, another long-standing neutral nation on the world stage. Both countries did so in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
An official ceremony will be held to mark the occasion. Swedish Defense Research Agency analyst Robert Dalsjo described the decision as “the last piece of the puzzle” uniting northern Europe.
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