BRUSSELS, June 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
NATO allies will sign next Tuesday in Brussels the accession protocol of Sweden and Finland to the alliance, allied sources have confirmed, after Turkey lifted the veto against both Scandinavian countries on Tuesday after achieving a greater commitment in the fight against terrorism .
The three-way negotiations facilitated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his team culminated in Madrid on Tuesday with an agreement that ends a month-long blockade by Ankara and paves the way for Stockholm and Helsinki to organization.
The signing will take place on Tuesday within the North Atlantic Council, the executive body that brings together the 30 allies at the Brussels headquarters, the sources consulted have indicated. This document will be signed “in parallel” with the accession negotiations, which are expected to take only a few hours as Sweden and Finland are closely aligned with NATO standards.
Stoltenberg has called the pact a “good deal” for all parties, adding that it will see the two Nordic countries work “even more closely” with Turkey to combat terrorism, extradite suspects or exchange information.
For the time being, Sweden and Finland will participate in the Madrid summit as partners and not as ‘guests’, that is, ‘de facto’ members, a status that they would have if the accession protocol had been signed before the meeting.
The two Nordic countries jointly requested their entry into NATO on May 18, an entry that the Atlantic Alliance was betting because it was ‘express’ and was ready for the Madrid summit.
However, Turkey has been frustrated by its reticence over the alleged collusion of Swedes and Finns with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The next step will be the negotiations and the signing of the access protocol, which the allies will initial in Brussels to later send it to the different capitals. The ratification of these protocols would be the longest phase due to the different systems to guarantee the new partner.
This bureaucratic procedure will take months since each ally has a different validation system, and in many cases it involves a vote in Parliament. This means that the formal entry of Sweden and Finland will not arrive until the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, something that worries the candidates who want to have security guarantees for this period in the face of threats from Russia.
Once all the members of the alliance and the candidates have approved these protocols, the next step will be to deposit these documents in Washington, where they are guarded by the United States Government.
