So far 17 countries ratify Finland, Sweden NATO accession protocols

Two more countries- Romania and Lithuania- on Wednesday ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, according to Finnish Foreign Ministry and sources of the respective countries.

“Today (Wednesday) Parliament has ratified Finland and Sweden accession protocols to NATO. We look forward to welcoming Finland and Sweden as NATO Allies and working together to ensure our collective security,” Lithuanian Foreign Ministry wrote in a twitter post.

With these two countries, a total of 17 countries so far ratified the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden.

Earlier, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, United Kingdom, Albania, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Bulgaria and Germany ratified the membership.

Meanwhile, the Slovakia government on Wednesday approved the Finland, Sweden NATO accession protocols with the view to ratify the accession in the parliament.

“Today (Wednesday), the Government of Slovakia approved the Accession Protocols of Finland and Sweden to

NATO. The next step – the Parliament. We aim for a smooth ratification process,” Ivan Korcok, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia wrote in his twitter.

On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives has expressed support for Finland and Sweden joining NATO, according to a twitter post of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Earlier on Monday, the government of Montenegro adopted the Protocols on Accession of 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.