The Swedish parliament has formally approved a bill to allow the country to join NATO: the 349-seat Riksdagen voted (296 in favour, 37 against, 43 members absent) for Sweden’s accession to Nato. According to foreign minister Tobias Billström, NATO membership “is the best way to safeguard Sweden’s security.”
Sweden and its neighbour Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment, but the process has been held up by Turkey and Hungary, which are yet to ratify the memberships. Sweden in particular has faced objections from Turkey (Stockholm is accused of harbouring members of what Turkey considers terrorist groups), whereas Finland’s application, according to president Erdoğan, should be processed before the forthcoming Turkish elections.
Read more on Riksdagen.se
