Brussels: 30 NATO allies signed an accession protocol for Finland and Sweden On Tuesday, allied parliaments ratified the decision to allow him to join the nuclear-armed coalition, the coalition’s most significant expansion since the mid-1990s.
“This is a truly historic moment,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg with the foreign ministers of both countries. “With 32 countries around the table, we will be even stronger.”
The protocol meant that Helsinki and Stockholm could participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to intelligence but would not be protected by the NATO defense clause that an attack on one ally is an attack against all until ratification. This is likely to take up to a year.
(with Reuters inputs)