Which countries want to join NATO?
In July 2022, NATO invited Finland and Sweden to join the organization, and the ratification process for the two countries is in progress. As of June 2022, three additional states have formally informed NATO of their membership aspirations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine. Kosovo also aspires to join NATO.
Finland and Sweden completed accession talks at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Monday (4 July 2022), as agreed last week by NATO leaders at their Summit in Madrid. Both countries formally confirmed their willingness and ability to meet the political, legal and military obligations and commitments of NATO membership.
Sweden is one of six members of the European Union that are not members of NATO. Sweden joined the Partnership for Peace on 9 May 1994.
Before you can get the list of nations of NATO it is important to know that, based on the calculations up to now, there is an overall total of 30 countries that are part of NATO. There are 27 countries within Europe and one located in Eurasia as well as only two within North America.
In March 2015, Russia, citing NATO's de facto breach of the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, said that the suspension of its participation in it, announced in 2007, was now "complete" through halting its participation in the consulting group on the Treaty.
In the event of its partners refusing, France, which wished to retain absolute control of its armed forces, reserved the right to withdraw from NATO. Indeed, de Gaulle drew no distinction between NATO and Europe.
Since 1949, NATO has increased its collective military power. Today it has the capability to count on nearly 3.5-million personnel, troops and civilian combined. Each member state agrees to contribute with different strategic weight and influence.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Turkey made the historic choice of siding with the free world and the Western Bloc. This policy was led Turkey to become member of NATO on 18 February 1952. Since then, NATO has been the cornerstone of Turkey's defense and security policy.
To date, Ireland has not sought to join as a full NATO member due to its traditional policy of military neutrality.
Is Poland part of NATO?
Since 1996, first as a partner and as of 1999, a full member of NATO, Poland has taken part in 14 missions and Allied operations.
The 12 founding member countries of NATO are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In April this year, the four countries participated in NATO's foreign ministerial meeting and they agreed to continue supporting Ukraine and to step up cooperation given the "global implications" of Russia's war on Ukraine. Australia, Japan and South Korea are all U.S. security allies.
Plans for NATO membership were shelved by Ukraine following the 2010 presidential election in which Viktor Yanukovych, who preferred to keep the country non-aligned, was elected President.
On 10 March 1966, President Charles de Gaulle announced France was officially withdrawing from NATO. The country would no longer host any NATO bases. The SHAPE, or Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers of Europe, which is in charge of NATO military planning, was relocated from Paris to Brussels.
In 1949 Sweden chose not to join NATO and declared a security policy aiming for non-alignment in peace and neutrality in war.
Russia accused Ukraine of a military build-up of its own, and demanded "legal guarantees" that it would never join NATO.
In April this year, the four countries participated in NATO's foreign ministerial meeting and they agreed to continue supporting Ukraine and to step up cooperation given the "global implications" of Russia's war on Ukraine. Australia, Japan and South Korea are all U.S. security allies.
On 5 July 2022, NATO signed the accession protocol for Finland to join the alliance.