Storting President Masud Gharahkhani will discuss Norway’s support for Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership for parliamentary leaders this week. However, before Storting can consider this, it must go through several stages.

– What is happening now is historic, said Gharahkhani.

It first became clear that Finland was applying for NATO membership, before it was finally confirmed on Monday that Sweden would do the same.

All 30 NATO member states must agree to a new member state. In the past, there have been riots when Turkey criticized those countries for joining the defense alliance, but later there were reports that Turkey did not intend to block them from becoming members.

Then Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan again went even tougher and said he still would not agree to NATO membership.

Norway’s support for Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership must be approved by Storting.

Gharakhani said he would raise the issue to parliamentary leaders in a meeting this week.

However, before Storting can consider this, it must go through several stages first.

Will ensure fast progress

Sweden and Finland must first submit official applications to NATO. It has been announced that countries will do so at the same time and by Wednesday at the latest. These are NATO ambassadors who do this on behalf of their respective countries.

As soon as the application is submitted, it will start discussions in NATO. Then they will determine a progress plan. Once NATO does this, the government must submit a proposition to the Storting.

based on Constitution Storting must agree to the conclusion of a very important agreement. So it was Stotting who made the final decision.

– We are ready to do treatment thoroughly and quickly. We want to ensure rapid progress, which is very likely to be facilitated, said Gharahkhani.

Membership is not only important for the security of Sweden and Finland, but also for Nordic cooperation, said Gharahkhani.

Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that Norway’s security was also strengthened by neighboring countries joining the defense alliance.

Wide majority

The last time such treatment occurred was in 2019 when North Macedonia applied for membership. Then the proposal from the government was sent in March and considered by Storage in June without drama. North Macedonia officially became a member of NATO in March 2020.

This time, it will probably take a much shorter time from proposition to decision Storting. The war in Ukraine and the large majority in Storting mean treatment can go faster, Gharahkhani said.

– There is a serious background, and there is a broad majority in Storting in favor of bringing Sweden and Finland into NATO, he said.