In today’s meeting of the Council of Ministers, Albania agreed in principle to adopt the protocols of Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership.

This is what the minister of foreign affairs, Olta Xhacka, said during a press communication outside the PM’s Office. Xhacka also stated that these protocols will be submitted to Parliament for ratification.

“We have officially presented our agreement regarding the enlargement of the Alliance to include these 2 countries. These protocols will be forwarded to Parliament where they will be ratified and when the ratification procedure is complete in the 30 parliaments of the NATO member states, and both Finland’s and Sweden’s parliaments, then it will be possible for them to join de jure in the North Atlantic Treaty,” – said Xhacka.

The foreign minister also noted that the step that finalizes both these countries’ membership is the submission of the membership instrument to the government of the United States.

Finland and Sweden have officially applied to join NATO. Their decision came after the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.