Defense Minister Helena Carreiras said on Tuesday that Portugal will conclude “very fast“already in september”surely“, the national process of ratification of the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, approved by the Allies two months ago.
Speaking in Prague, upon her arrival at an informal meeting of defense ministers of the European Union, Helena Carreiras, who in July had assumed the goal of the Portuguese Government to conclude the ratification process as soon as possible, reiterated on this day that Finland accession and Sweden to the Atlantic Alliance must be ratified by the Assembly of the Republic very soon, the parliamentary holidays are over.
“I think there is a very tight schedule, now it is September for sure, and we are going to achieve this goal very quickly,” he said.
The Government’s proposal for resolutions on the matter —approved by the Council of Ministers on July 14— was sent to the Assembly of the Republic on July 19, according to the Parliament’s website, after being sent to the parliamentary committees of Foreign Affairs and Communities. and National Defense.
Given that the last plenary session before the parliamentary holidays was on July 21, the proposed agreements in question you can only vote from Septemberso the Government hopes that this will happen very soon.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Sweden and Finland, two traditionally neutral countries, submitted an application to join NATO on May 28.
Finland and Sweden closer to NATO. With signed accession protocols, countries obtain “guest status”
Following initial resistance from Turkey, NATO Heads of State and Government, meeting at a summit in Madrid, officially invited Sweden and Finland to become members of the Alliance on 29 June.
More than 20 of the 30 NATO member countries have already ratified the accession of the two countries, the last of which was the United States, on August 3.
Source: Observadora
