President Andrzej Duda ratifies Finland and Sweden NATO accession

Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, has ratified treaties on Finland’s and Sweden’s Nato accession, a presidential aide has told PAP.

The two Nordic countries forsook their decades-long neutrality after Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a conventional military conflict that Europe had not seen since World War Two.

“Mr President today ratified the protocols concerning the accession of Sweden and Finland to Nato,” Malgorzata Paprocka, a presidential minister, told PAP late on Friday.

The Polish president signed the relevant bills that authorised him to ratify the accession on July 22. The lower house of parliament, the Sejm, passed the legislation on July 7, and the bills were approved by the Senate, the upper house, on July 20.

“It is a very important day not only for Nato, not only for our part of Europe, for the Baltic Sea basin and the security of this part of the world,” Duda said on July 22. “It is also a very important day… for future generations of Poles and those who will live and build their day-to-day lives and their happiness in this part of Europe and the world.”

Finland and Sweden applied for Nato membership in mid-May. Today they have the status of invited countries and can take part in Nato meetings, but do not have voting rights. All 30 current members of the bloc must agree to accept the two Nordic countries into the alliance.