Copyright © Hans Högman 2022-05-03
Sweden Joins NATO
in March 2024
Sweden Joins NATO
On Thursday, March 7, 2024,
Sweden joined NATO as its
32nd member state.
When Hungary, as the last
country to approve Sweden's
application, deposited its
protocol in Washington D.C.
on March 7th, NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg immediately sent an invitation to Sweden
that Sweden was now ready to join NATO.
The Swedish government accepted the invitation and
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who was already in
Washington D.C., then signed Sweden's accession
documents. Just over an hour later, PM Ulf
Kristersson and the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias
Billström handed over the accession documents to
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Thus, Sweden officially joined NATO as its 32nd
member state.
The image above shows the NATO flag.
Sweden’s Path to NATO
During the Cold War, Sweden
chose to remain outside
NATO. The Social Democrats,
Sweden's largest political
party, were opposed to
Swedish NATO membership
and thus there was no majority in the Parliament
(Riksdag) for Sweden to join NATO.
Sweden and Finland were thus the only countries in
northern Europe not to join NATO.
The image shows the Flag of Sweden.
Following Russia's annexation of the Crimean
peninsula in 2014, the case for Swedish membership
has been growing.
However, it was mainly after Russia launched an
unprovoked war of aggression on its neighboring
Ukraine on 24 February 2022 that the Swedish
population's opinion on Swedish NATO membership
changed.
The same debate has been going on in our
neighboring country Finland and perhaps more
intensely there (sharing a border with Russia).
On Thursday, 12 May 2022, Finnish President Sauli
Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced
that Finland must apply for NATO membership.
The application was signed on 18 May.
For several months prior to this, the Swedish and
Finnish governments had been discussing NATO
membership and holding discussions with other
NATO countries.
On Monday, May 16, 2022, a NATO debate was held
in the Swedish Parliament and there was now a very
large majority in the Parliament in favor of joining
NATO. On the same day, the then Social Democratic
government made the official decision that Sweden
would apply for membership in NATO. On Tuesday,
May 17, the then Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed
Sweden's application for Swedish membership in
NATO.
The application for NATO membership was jointly
submitted by Sweden and Finland to NATO Secretary-
General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in
Brussels on 18 May 2022.
All 30 NATO countries at the time welcomed Sweden
and Finland as members.
However, after a few days, Turkey opposed and
vetoed Sweden and Finland, taking advantage of the
fact that all NATO member states must agree for new
countries to join.
On June 28, 2022, after two months of negotiations
between Sweden, Finland, NATO, and Turkey, Turkey
dropped its veto and also welcomed Sweden and
Finland into NATO.
On July 5, 2022, the ambassadors of the then 30
NATO members signed an accession protocol for
Sweden and Finland. Sweden and Finland were
granted "Invitee" status.
28 of NATO's 30 member states were very quick to
ratify the membership of Sweden and Finland.
However, Turkey resisted, citing its domestic political
reasons. Hungary also chose to postpone
ratification.
Turkey later announced that it would ratify Finland
but not Sweden at this time. Hungary also
announced the same thing.
Hungary ratified Finland's NATO application on 27
March 2023 and Turkey on 30 March 2023.
On 4 April 2023, Finland was admitted as a full
member of NATO.
Turkey and Hungary finally say YES to
Sweden
After months of obstruction and constant new
demands on Sweden, Turkey finally said YES to
Sweden's NATO application. This happened on 10
July 2023. They planned to later ratify Sweden's
application in the Turkish parliament.
Hungary, which has not yet said YES either, has
declared that it will not be the last country to ratify
Sweden's application.
Finally, on January 25, 2024, President Recep
Erdoğan signed the ratification document,
completing Turkey's ratification of Sweden's NATO
application.
On 23 February 2024, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf
Kristersson flew with a Swedish delegation to
Budapest, Hungary, for a meeting with Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Orbán and his Fidesz party announced after the
meeting that they were now ready to approve
Sweden's NATO application.
On March 5, 2024, newly elected Hungarian
President Tamás Sulyok signed Sweden's NATO
application.
Sweden becomes NATO's 32nd member state
on March 7, 2024.
On March 7, 2024, the Foreign Minister of Hungary,
being the last NATO country to approve, deposited
their approval of Sweden's NATO application with the
US State Department.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg then
sent a formal invitation to Sweden to become a full
member of NATO, which was subsequently accepted
by Sweden in an extraordinary government meeting
in Stockholm. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson
and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström were already in
Washington DC at the time.
After the government decision, Ulf Kristersson signed
Sweden's accession document. Just over an hour
later, Kristersson and Billström handed over the
accession document to US Secretary of State
Anthony Blinken.
Thus, Sweden became a member of NATO as its
32nd member state.
On Monday, 11 March 2024, an official ceremony
was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels,
Belgium, where Sweden was welcomed into NATO
and the Swedish flag was raised among the flags of
other member states.
