The US Senate voted on Wednesday for a resolution to ratify Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO, a historic vote aimed at strengthening the defense bloc in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, CNN reports. Only one senator opposed.

NATO formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance at the end of June, and the decision must go to the parliaments and legislatures of the 30 member states for final ratification.

President Joe Biden sent the protocols to the Senate for ratification in July, clearing the way for the vote, which needed two-thirds of the Senate to pass.

Only one senator opposed

The final vote in the Senate was 95 to 1, with Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri voting against and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voting “present.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that a vote would be held to approve a resolution ratifying Sweden’s and Finland’s bids for NATO membership, and said he had invited the ambassadors of Finland and Sweden to join the floor during the debate and vote.

“Our NATO alliance is the cornerstone that guarantees democracy in the Western world after the end of the Second World War. This further strengthens NATO and is especially necessary in light of recent Russian aggression,” Schumer said in comments from the Senate floor.

“When Leader McConnell and I met with the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Sweden in May, we made a commitment to do it as soon as possible and certainly before they go home for August vacation,” he said. Sumer.

What is the next step

After the Senate approves the protocols on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, “the next step in the ratification process will be the signing of the treaty ratification document by the president,” a representative of the State Department told CNN.

“If the president signs the instrument of ratification, that instrument is deposited with (in the case of a multilateral treaty) the depository of the treaty,” which in NATO’s case is the Department, the spokesman said.

Final arrangements for the deposit of the instrument of ratification have not yet been made, a spokesman told CNN.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted in a speech Wednesday before the vote that it would be “as decisive as it is bipartisan.”

Joining Sweden and Finland “will strengthen the alliance”

McConnell argued that Sweden and Finland joining NATO “will only strengthen the most successful military alliance in human history.”

Sweden and Finland announced their intention to join NATO in May after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.

The reason most countries joined NATO is Article 5, which states that all signatories consider an attack on one member an attack on all. Article 5 has been a cornerstone of the Alliance since its creation in 1949 as a counterweight to the Soviet Union, notes new.ro.

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