So far, 20 countries ratify Finland´s NATO accession protocol

So far, 20 countries out of total 30 ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden until Friday, according to the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

The ministry also expressed optimism to become NATO member following the speedy ratification by the members of the military alliance.

“We are grateful for the speedy ratifications of Finland's Accession Protocols already in 20/30 NATO member countries. We are firmly headed to NATO,” the ministry in twitter post said on Friday.

So far, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, United Kingdom, Albania, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Montenegro, Belgium and North Macedonia ratified the NATO accession protocol for Finland.

Finland´s accession protocol needs to be ratified by the rest 10 NATO member countries, although some questions from few countries still remain in this regard.

The United States voted overwhelmingly in support of Finland´s NATO membership but question raised about the speedy ratification of the process as a Republican senator from Kentucky Rand Paul is delaying the vote.

Meanwhile, another member Turkey, which already agreed to support Finland´s membership, is now raising question regarding the extradition of members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its leaders are very often threatening to block the membership.

The governor of Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, Massimiliano Fedriga also asked the Italian parliament to halt the ratification of Finland's membership.

The governor took the move following the recently-announced plans of Finnish company Wärtsilä to stop production at its facility in Trieste, Italy.

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.