The United States Senate on Wednesday endorsed the accession to Nato of Sweden and Finland, a decisive step in the US ratification of the accession of both countries to the Atlantic alliance.
The upper house, controlled by Democrats, gave 95 votes in favor and one against. The Senate also approved an amendment stating that all NATO members must spend by 2024 a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defense and 20% of their defense budget on “major equipment, research and development”.
Instead, he rejected an amendment, introduced by Republicans, that wanted to prevent NATO’s commitment to defend its members from taking precedence over Congress’s power to authorize the use of military force.
The ratification process for the entry of new members into NATO varies according to each country: in the United States, the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and the subsequent signature of the president is required.
The US president, Democrat Joe Biden, transmitted the accession protocol to the senators on July 11 and urged them to ratify it quickly, considering that both countries will be “net contributors to the alliance, both in capabilities and resources.” .
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Committee, also a Democrat Bob Menéndez, took a position on Wednesday along the same lines by stressing at the beginning of the debate that US support sends a strong message in favor of freedom and collective defense.
The influential senator stressed that the current situation, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, shows “more than ever the vital role” that NATO plays in protecting peace.
NATO leaders agreed at their summit in Madrid at the end of June to start the admission process for Sweden and Finland. Both countries provisionally have observer status and will become full members when the 30 members of the alliance ratify access.
Sweden and Finland, motivated by the Russian invasion, delivered their admission applications on May 18. They did so at the headquarters of the transatlantic organization, in Brussels, at a meeting of their respective ambassadors to NATO with the Allied Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
Turkey had vetoed its entry and demanded more cooperation in the fight against organizations described as terrorists by Ankara, although it finally reached an agreement with Sweden and Finland, in which Stoltenberg mediated and which had the approval of the US.
The entry of Sweden and Finland will allow NATO to have alternative maritime and air corridors in support of the Baltic countries.
US Republican Senator Josh Hawley was the only one who voted against his entry on Wednesday.
“The expansion will imply new obligations for the United States,” he said, convinced that his country’s focus should not be on Europe, but on Asia, to counteract the growing Chinese threat.
EFE
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