There was no suspense. The French Parliament ratified the NATO accession protocols of Sweden and Finland, by a vote of the National Assembly on Tuesday, after the historic decision of these two countries to give up their neutrality because of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
The deputies adopted the text by 209 votes against 46 with the support of LR (right), the Socialist Party (PS) and environmentalists, the abstention of the RN (extreme right) and the vote against of LFI (La France Insoumise, radical left).
Threats from Turkey
Sweden and Finland, however, need a ratification of the thirty member states of the organization to benefit from the protection of Article 5 of the NATO Charter in the event of an attack. And Turkey threatens to “freeze” the process, accusing the two Scandinavian countries of benevolence towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its allies that Ankara considers terrorist organizations.
France joins “twenty allies” who “have already ratified the protocols,” said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. The head of French diplomacy underlined the “historic and major decision” of Sweden and Finland, whose “neutrality has so far been a cardinal principle”.
This “turning point” comes from the “upheaval of our geopolitical landmarks” with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the recourse of a “power” to “brute force” with “incredible violence”, “exactions, rapes, assassinations and deportations,” lambasted the minister.
“Signal of defiance to Russia”
With NATO, it “is about collective defense” and “in no way to be offensive”, recalled Catherine Colonna. “For NATO, it’s time to wake up” after “brain death” described by Emmanuel Macron, said the centrist president of the Foreign Affairs Commission Jean-Louis Bourlanges (MoDem, centrist).
The rebellious Aurélien Saintoul denounced a “dangerous process” with the “overlay of NATO” and the European Union. On the far right, Laurent Jacobelli (RN) criticized “a signal of challenge to Russia”, with this membership process, presenting NATO as a “commercial showcase for the military-industrial complex” of the United States .
The LR right supported this “legitimate” membership of “partners” who “regularly contribute to NATO operations”. But “the fact that the Europe of defense is not a guarantee of sufficient protection must challenge us”, underlined Michèle Tabarot (LR). Socialist Alain David judged that the geopolitical context made this NATO membership “necessary”. He criticized “the odious blackmail of Turkey” on the subject, about the Kurds.