The accession to NATO of a candidate country involves an entrance examination during which the applicants must convince each of the 30 Alliance members of what their contribution would be and their capacity to respond to the obligations of the common agreement.
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How does the process start?
The process is codified since once a country makes the decision to request to be part of the pactNATO members must unanimously accept and extend an invitation.
This invitation marks the start of the accession negotiations that take place at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels.
What must the interested country demonstrate?
There the applicant must convince the representatives of the members and the experts of the Alliance to its ability to comply with “political, legal and military obligations and commitments” detailed in the Washington Treaty and in the 1995 NATO enlargement text.
The talks make it possible to discuss legal issues, security, the protection of classified information and the contribution to a common budget, which is based on the size of the economy of each country.
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Candidate countries must commit to making the necessary reforms and then write a “letter” to the NATO secretary general with a “timetable for carrying out the reforms.”
What comes next?
The final stage is the ratification of the accession protocol by each of the NATO member states, who send their consent for the entry of a new member to the United States government, which is the depositary of the North Atlantic Treaty.
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The slogan “One for all and all for one” enshrined in article 5 is applied once the ratification by all the states is complete. For the last member state, North Macedonia, this process took a year.
What will happen in the case of Sweden and Finland?
As members of the European Union, Sweden and Finland they benefit from the mutual assistance clause provided for in article 42-7 for the period of the ratification process of their accession to NATO.
The secretary general of NATO, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, affirmed that the two candidates will be received with “open arms” if they decide to join the Alliance, of which they are already “associated” countries.
The question of Russia’s reaction will be raised in the talks, said an Alliance diplomat. Moscow opposes Finland’s entry into the pact and refuses to set up bases on the territory of a country with which Russia shares a long border.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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