By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK- On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the United States Instruments of Ratification of the Accession Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty for the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden that the U.S. Senate approved on August 3. In a formal statement to the press, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “We celebrate this historic moment, which underscores the U.S. commitment to our shared Transatlantic security.” Blinken further expressed that the Biden administration is pleased with the “swift progress toward Finland and Sweden becoming NATO Allies.” He added that there is “strong Allied and bipartisan support for the membership applications of Finland and Sweden, and we look forward to quickly bringing them into the strongest defensive Alliance in history.”
Blinken lauded what he labeled as the “swift action” of all of the Allies who already ratified the accession protocols and reiterated that he “encourage all to complete the process soon, so that Finland and Sweden can accede to the North Atlantic Treaty and join the NATO Alliance. The secretary of state said that the U.S. commitment to our NATO Allies and Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is “ironclad.” Blinken commented that Allies “are united in their shared mission to defend the Euro-Atlantic community, deter aggression, project stability, and uphold NATO’s values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.” He added that the U.S. is “firmly committed” to NATO’s Open Door policy as well as to continuing “strengthening our bilateral defense and security cooperation.”
