“Today, we have decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become members of Nato, and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols,” a declaration from a summit in Madrid said.
The statement on the invitation, point 18 out of 20 in the declaration, stressed the importance of the trilateral memorandum struck with Turkey on Tuesday night.
“In any accession to the Alliance, it is of vital importance that the legitimate security concerns of all Allies are properly addressed,” the declaration reads. “We welcome the conclusion of the trilateral memorandum between Türkiye, Finland, and Sweden to that effect.”
Finland and Sweden joining Nato “will make them safer, Nato stronger, and the Euro-Atlantic area more secure,” the declaration continue.
It also reiterated security guarantees given by Nato countries, stating that during the accession process the security of Sweden and Finland would be “of direct importance to the Alliance”.
During a meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the meeting, US President Joe Biden said that Sweden and Finland’s accession to the defence alliance showed that the strategy of Vladimir Putin had failed.
“It demonstrates that President Putin has not succeeded in closing Nato’s door. He’s getting the opposite of what he wants,” he said. “He wants less Nato. President Putin is getting more Nato, while Finland Sweden are joining our Alliance.”
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauséda said that it was likely that byt he time his country hosts Nato’s next summit in Riga next year, both Finland and Sweden will be members.
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