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Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament ratified, by a majority vote, the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden on Friday.
The vote was watched from the gallery by Finnish Ambassador Kalle Johannes Kankaanpää and Swedish Ambassador Diana Helen Madunić. The ratification was greeted with a round of applause.
"May our friendship and partnership be stronger in the days, months and years ahead. Hang in there!" Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said.
The protocols were signed by the authorised representatives of the NATO member states in Brussels on 5 July 2022. On behalf of Croatia, they were signed by the Permanent Representative to NATO, Mario Nobilo.
The protocols will enter into force once they have been ratified by the parliaments of all 30 NATO member states, after which Finland and Sweden will be formally invited to join the military alliance.
In his address to the Croatian Parliament on Thursday, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said that the government strongly supported NATO's enlargement to Finland and Sweden as further support to collective defence.