More countries ratify Finland, Sweden´s NATO membership

The Netherlands, Luxemburg and Bulgaria ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, according to Finnish Foreign Ministry source.

“Today Bulgaria Parliament ratified the protocols for Sweden and Finland ‘s membership in NATO. The accession of our close EU partners to the Alliance will further strengthen our common Euro-Atlantic security,” Bulgarian Foreign Ministry wrote in a twitter post on Wednesday.

“With the speed of light, at least in the realm of Dutch legislative procedures, the Netherlands has ratified NATO membership of our Finnish and Swedish friends. Good to see the broad support and speedy process in the House of Representatives & Senate,” Dutch Foreign Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken wrote in his twitter on Tuesday.

Luxembourg Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the parliament of the country approved the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO

“We are looking forward to working closer with our trusted Nordic friends to ensure our collective security,” the ministry wrote in a twitter post.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto in separate twitter posts of the ministry expressed his gratefulness to the Netherlands and Luxemburg government for the ratifications.

Earlier on July 8, both house of the German parliament voted on July 8 approved Finland's and Sweden's bids to join the NATO defence bloc.

Albania’s parliament on July 7 also ratified the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland to the NATO.

Earlier, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark and Iceland have ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden.

On July 5, the ambassadors of the 30 NATO states signed the accession protocols at the organization's headquarters in Brussels, with the foreign ministers of the two Nordic countries in attendance.

The ratification requires unanimous approval of all 30 members.