The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, committed the Atlantic Alliance on Tuesday to the military defense of Finland and Sweden, in the event that some kind of threat was registered during the negotiation stalemates until the ratification of the accession protocol.
Jens Stoltenberg considers it “inconceivable that NATO did not intervene” during the waiting period until the entry into the Atlantic Alliance and admits that the security of the two candidates is already guaranteed.
“You sit at the table with NATO, integrating into our political and military structures and exercising more with allied forces,” said Stoltenberg, recalling that “NATO increased its presence in the Nordic region and many allies gave security guarantees to Sweden and Finland”. .
“Therefore it would be inconceivable that NATO would not act if its security was threatened,” the secretary general said, speaking in Sweden alongside Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Stoltenberg informed the official that he believes that the deadlocks in the negotiations should be overcome soon, noting that “Sweden has fulfilled its commitments under the Trilateral Memorandum and the time has come to finalize the ratification process.”
“I recently met with President Erdogan and I am pleased that he has agreed to restart the meetings of the Permanent Joint Mechanism. I have convened another meeting of Turkey, Finland and Sweden at NATO headquarters on Thursday,” said Stoltenberg, who also celebrated ” the fact that the Hungarian parliament has started discussions on ratification”.
“I hope that the process will be completed soon,” said the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, admitting that he is “eager to welcome Sweden and Finland (…) in the very near future” in a strengthened organization.
“The accession of Sweden and Finland will strengthen our alliance, with highly trained forces, an advanced defense industry and years of experience, training and operating together with NATO allies,” he said.
The two Nordic countries have historically maintained a policy of non-military alignment, but on May 18, 2022 they definitively ended their traditional neutrality, presenting their formal candidacies to the Atlantic Alliance on the same day.
On July 5, NATO signed the accession protocol which, however, is still pending ratification in countries such as Turkey and Hungary.
Source: TSF
