On Monday, March 11, the Swedish flag was raised in front of NATO headquarters in Belgium. The country officially became the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Alliance
The event was broadcast on NATO’s YouTube channel.
The flag-raising ceremony took place at NATO Headquarters in Brussels with the participation of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and NATO officials.
What is known about Sweden’s accession to NATO
On May 18, 2022, after Russia’s large-scale attack on Ukraine, Sweden and Finland jointly applied to join NATO.
On April 4, 2023, Finland became the 31st member of NATO. Instead, Sweden was criticized by Turkey and Hungary.
On January 25, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decision of the Turkish parliament ratifying the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
A year later, on February 26, 2024, Sweden’s accession to NATO was ratified by the Hungarian parliament.
On March 2, Hungarian Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kövér signed the protocol on ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO and sent the bill to the President’s office. The new Hungarian president, Tomasz Szuik, subsequently signed a protocol ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO.
On March 7, Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Alliance and became the 32nd NATO member state.
