Sweden has ended two centuries of non-alignment to become the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The country applied to join the military alliance shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but needed unanimous ratification from the current NATO member states to be able to join.
Turkey and Hungary held up this process for over two years, with Turkey refusing to allow Sweden into the alliance while it harboured Kurdish separatists. The Hungarian government was less clear on its reason for refusing to discuss the ratification.
After protracted negotiations between Sweden and Turkey, the latter relented, leaving Hungary as the final country needed to ratify Sweden’s membership. Hungary also finally ratified Sweden’s membership this week, opening the door for Sweden to become an official NATO member on Thursday.
[Image: Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay]