Sweden - March 2024

On 7 March, Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as the 32nd member of the alliance. Sweden applied for membership in NATO on 18 May 2022, at the same time as Finland, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sweden’s accession was drawn out by delayed ratification by existing members, Türkiye and Hungary, who respectively approved Sweden’s membership in January and February 2024. On entering NATO, Sweden leaves behind 200 years of military non-alignment. A long history of close cooperation with NATO and the changing security situation in Europe have led to broad political support for joining NATO, with 269 out of 349 members of the Swedish Parliament voting in favour of Sweden’s accession to NATO.

Sources: Government Offices of Sweden (1), Government Offices of Sweden (2), SVT News, Reuters