On Wednesday, President Milos Zeman signed the documents ratifying the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. His spokesman, Jerry Oveczyk, announced this on Twitter. Representatives and senators have already agreed to join in the past weeks. Both Nordic countries applied to join the alliance at the beginning of July due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They decided to end their neutrality.
President Milos Zeman signs documents ratifying Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO Source: Prague Castle
In the Czech Republic, accession protocols are formal international treaties of a presidential type. Both Houses approve the ratification, and this represents the subsequent signature of the President of the Republic. Zeman had previously supported the entry of both countries into NATO.
Representatives approved the protocols at a Friday-Saturday night meeting, and senators have already voted to expand NATO on August 10. In both houses of Parliament, a clear majority of its members spoke in favor of entering the Nordic countries.
Malfunctions the day after sailing. The NATO ship and Britain’s largest ship have shaft problems
Read the article
The protocols for the accession of Finland and Sweden were signed in July by representatives of 30 NATO member states. By doing so, they took a decisive step toward being accepted into the alliance. In order for both countries to become members, documents of accession must be ratified by all allied nations, and most have already done so.
Turkey had the biggest comments. It traded for ratification to fulfill its demands linked to Kurdish members of groups Ankara classifies as terrorist. Since then, Turkish officials have promised, among other things, to extradite 33 people, among whom are members of alleged terrorist organizations.
Among them, Ankara includes, for example, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in Syria, the organization of the cleric Fethullah Gulen or the PKK, which is also on the list of terrorist groups in the United States and the European Union.
But according to Turkey’s Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag, Sweden has only extradited “common criminals” so far. At the end of July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also criticized Stockholm for not being sufficiently involved in the fight against terrorism.
