NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Princess Victoria of Sweden, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and cabinet members, former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who applied for NATO membership, and political party leaders attended the ceremony held at NATO headquarters.
Stoltenberg and Kristersson held a joint press conference before the ceremony.
Stoltenberg stated that Sweden has taken its rightful place in NATO under the protection of Article 5, and said, “Joining NATO is good for both Sweden, the stability of the northern region, and the security of our entire Alliance.” he said.
Stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to have more control over NATO and its neighbors when he attacked Ukraine two years ago, Stoltenberg said, “But he was wrong. NATO has become bigger and stronger.” said.
Stoltenberg emphasized that NATO expects Sweden to be a determined ally and said, “There is no plan to increase the number of allies with nuclear weapons. Of course, we constantly evaluate our stance against existing conventional forces. However, we do not have a plan to create a battle group in Sweden, as in the Baltic countries. ” he said.
Kristersson also thanked Stoltenberg for his efforts and the allies for approving his country’s membership and said, “We are humble but also proud. We know that the expectations from Sweden are high, but we also have high expectations from ourselves.” said.
“We will share the burden, responsibilities and risks with our allies.” Using his expressions, Kristersson stated that his country has military capabilities that will contribute to NATO on land, in the air and at sea, that it has strengthened its defense, and that they have doubled the defense budget in line with the standards of the Alliance.
Then, the Swedish flag was raised to the accompaniment of its national anthem and took its place among the flags of Turkey and Spain in alphabetical order.
SWEDEN’S MEMBERSHIP PROCESS TO NATO
Sweden, like its neighbor Finland, applied for membership in NATO on May 18, 2022, due to security concerns brought about by the rising threat of war in Europe.
Turkey, one of the 30 member states that must approve the new accession to NATO, expressed its expectations from Sweden and Finland. Turkey’s concerns stemmed from the activities of terrorist organizations such as PKK/YPG and FETO, especially in Sweden.
At the Madrid Summit on June 28, 2022, Turkey signed the Tripartite Memorandum with Sweden and Finland, in which the two countries committed to greater cooperation in the fight against terrorism. In this context, the Permanent Joint Mechanism was established by the three countries.
In this way, the two countries were officially invited to membership. With the signing of the accession protocol by NATO countries on July 5, 2022, Swedish and Finnish officials began to attend NATO meetings “as invited countries”.
During this process, many meetings were held between the three countries.
Finland became the 31st member of NATO on April 3, 2023, after its commitments to meet Turkey’s expectations were met.
The process continued for Sweden. Following the approvals of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on January 23 and the Hungarian National Assembly on February 26, the final stage of Sweden’s membership began with the completion of the procedure in the parliaments of all allies.
Sweden officially became the 32nd member of NATO on March 7, with the entry protocol acceptance ceremony held in Washington, the capital of the USA. (AA)
