In a complete betrayal of more than 60% of French voters who cast their votes for a variety of presidential candidates calling on France to leave NATO or even to disband it, the French Senate, on July 21, with 323 votes in favor and only 17 (communist party group) opposing it, ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland to become NATO members. The text will now go to the National Assembly, which has until August 2 to debate and vote on it.
One week after the NATO Madrid summit, the signing of the accession protocols by the ambassadors of the 30 member countries opened the ratification process at NATO headquarters in Brussels on July 5th. Canada was the first country to ratify the two accession protocols on the same day.
The signing of the accession protocols grants “guest status” to Sweden and Finland. But until all 30 member states have ratified their membership, they will not benefit from the protection of Article 5 of the NATO Charter in the event of an attack.