On Thursday, 14 July, Latvian Saeima unanimously voted in favour of legislative drafts that ratify the addition of two new members to NATO: Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden.
«The addition of Finland and Sweden to the alliance is important to preserve NATO’s open doors policy, especially now, when the alliance is under pressure from Russia’s demands for NATO that the country made shortly before its invasion of Ukraine,» said chairman of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission Rihard Kols, adding that Latvia has always defended all countries’ rights to decide their security policy, membership in alliances and their future in general.
The addition of Finland and Sweden will help enhance NATO’s collective military capabilities in the Baltic Sea region and expand capacity for both deterrence and collective defence, said Kols.
Considering Russia’s war in Ukraine, its aggressive rhetoric and potential to escalate the security situation in the Baltic Sea region, it is in the interest of Latvia and its allies to speed up Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO process, as mentioned in annotations to legislative drafts.
Read also: Russian-speaking Latvian: Russians sick with putinisis shame my native language
Both countries submitted their letters of application to NATO secretary general on 18 May. On 5 July NATO representatives in Brussels signed the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of Finland and Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Kingdom of Sweden.
The ratification process started after the signing of protocols. During this procedure NATO member states ratify protocols in accordance with their respective national procedures. Once all member states have ratified protocols, the ratification procedure will commence in Finland and Sweden.
Latvian Saeima votes unanimously in favour of letting Sweden and Finland join NATO
