Context: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that Finland would formally become a member within days, as he congratulated its President on clearing the final hurdle to joining.
Earlier Finland and Sweden initial applied for membership last May, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And while the two countries were formally invited to join the alliance last summer, both Turkey and Hungary have been stalling on ratifying their memberships.
About NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- Russia attacked Ukraine, highlighting that Ukraine acceding to NATO would be a security threat to Russia.
- Ukraine has been seeking NATO’s support against Russia.
- This attack started a debate about the cold war alliances. NATO is a Military alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a link between the ‘Western countries’ of the two continents.
- NATO membership is open to any other European country which adheres to the principles of NATO and contributes to the security of the North Atlantic area.
- A NATO decision is the expression of the collective will of all 30 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.
- NATO’s core tasks are Collective defence, Crisis management & Cooperative security.
- Principle of ‘Collective Defence’ under which an attack against one or several NATO members is considered an attack against all.
- The principle of collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
- NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
- NATO has taken collective defence measures on several occasions, for instance in response to the situation in Syria and the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
- NATO follows ‘Open Door Policy’ is based on Article 10 of its founding treaty.
- Any decision to invite a country to join the Alliance is taken by North Atlantic Council based on consensus among all Allies (i.e., Existing Members of NATO).
Steps to Accession Process
- NATO members decide to invite a country to become a member of NATO and they officially invite the country to begin accession talks with the NATO.
- Accession Talks place between individual invitees and NATO experts at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
- Invitees send letters of intent to NATO, along with timetables for completion of reforms.
- Accession protocols are signed by NATO countries.
- Accession protocols are ratified by NATO countries. Once Accession Protocols are ratified the invitee countries become eligible to participate in NATO meetings as non-members.
- NATO Secretary General invites potential new members.
