RATIFICATION OF FINLAND AND SWEDEN'S ACCESSION TO NATO
After thorough debates across their whole societies and with large parliamentary majorities supporting the decision, Finland and Sweden simultaneously handed their official letters of application to join NATO over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 18 May 2022. NATO Heads of State and Government extended an invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the Alliance at the Madrid Summit on 29 June 2022. The accession protocols for both countries were signed on 5 July 2022 after completion of accession talks. The protocols were then ratified by all Allies, according to their national procedures. As it has done in the past, the NATO PA has encouraged prompt parliamentary ratification and kept track of progress in Allied parliaments.
Finland became the 31st member of NATO and the NATO PA as of 4 April 2023, and Sweden the 32nd member as of 7 March 2024.
Timeline:
Note: the timeline below indicates the date of the end of the parliamentary procedures. This may not be the end of the ratification process in a nation. Moreover, to take effect, ratification instruments must be deposited with the United States government
☑️ Canada - 5 July 2022
☑️ Iceland - 5 July 2022
☑️ Norway - 5 July 2022
☑️ Denmark - 5 July 2022
☑️ Estonia - 6 July 2022
☑️ United Kingdom - 6 July 2022
☑️ Albania - 7 July 2022
☑️ Germany - 8 July 2022
☑️ Netherlands - 12 July 2022
☑️ Luxembourg - 12 July 2022
☑️ Bulgaria - 13 July 2022
☑️ Latvia - 14 July 2022
☑️ Slovenia - 14 July 2022
☑️ Croatia - 15 July 2022
☑️ Poland - 20 July 2022
☑️ Lithuania - 20 July 2022
☑️ Belgium - 20 July 2022
☑️ Romania - 21 July 2022
☑️ North Macedonia - 27 July 2022
☑️ Montenegro - 28 July 2022
☑️ France - 2 August 2022
☑️ Italy - 3 August 2022
☑️ United-States - 3 August 2022
☑️ Czech Republic - 27 August 2022
☑️ Greece - 15 September 2022
☑️ Portugal - 16 September 2022
☑️ Spain - 21 September 2022
☑️ Slovakia - 27 September 2022
☑️ Hungary - 27 March 2023 (Finland)
☑️ Türkiye - 30 March 2023 (Finland) - 23 January 2024 (Sweden)
☑️ Hungary - 27 March 2023 (Finland) - 26 February 2024 (Sweden)
THE PROCESSES OF NATO AND NATO PA ENLARGEMENT
NATO’S PROCESS OF ENLARGEMENT
Within NATO, the process of enlargement normally involves the following steps1:
- Allies invite an aspirant to begin accession talks.
- Accession talks with a NATO team.
The aim of these talks is to obtain formal confirmation from the invitees of their willingness and ability to meet the political, legal and military obligations and commitments of NATO membership, as laid out in the Washington Treaty and in the 1995 Study on NATO Enlargement.
- Invitees send letters of intent to NATO, along with timetables for completion of reforms.
In the second step of the accession process, each invitee country provides confirmation of its acceptance of the obligations and commitments of membership in the form of a letter of intent from each foreign minister addressed to the NATO Secretary General. Together with this letter, they also formally submit their individual reform timetables.
- Accession protocols are signed by NATO countries.
NATO then prepares Accession Protocols to the Washington Treaty for each invitee. These protocols are in effect amendments or additions to the Treaty, which once signed and ratified by Allies, become an integral part of the Treaty itself and permit the invited countries to become parties to the Treaty. From the moment when Accession Protocols are signed, NATO invites representatives of the invited countries to attend meetings of the North Atlantic Council as observers.
- Accession Protocols are ratified by NATO countries.
The governments of NATO member states ratify the protocols, according to their national requirements and procedures.
- The Secretary General invites the potential new members to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty.
Once all NATO member countries notify the Government of the United States of America, the depository of the Washington Treaty, of their acceptance of the protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of the potential new members, the Secretary General invites the new countries to accede to the Treaty.
- Invitees accede to the North Atlantic Treaty in accordance with their national procedures.
- Upon depositing their instruments of accession with the US State Department, invitees formally become NATO members.
FULL MEMBERSHIP IN THE NATO PA
When new nations join the North Atlantic Alliance, their parliaments become full members of the NATO PA. The Assembly has developed a practice of mirroring – and sometimes anticipating – the NATO accession process:
- Once a nation is officially invited to begin the accession talks, the NATO PA invites its delegation to attend Standing Committee meetings as an observer.
- The Standing Committee agrees in advance on the number of seats for future members.
- Upon a country’s formal accession to NATO, the Assembly adopts revisions to its Rules of Procedure regarding membership and the allocation of seats and agrees on this country’s contribution to the Assembly’s budget.
- Once a nation officially becomes a NATO member, its parliamentary delegation participates in the next Assembly session as a full member.
