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Italy’s parliament on Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill ratifying the accession of Finland and Sweden to the NATO alliance.
The Senate voted by 202 to 13 in favor of the bill, a day after the lower house approved it by a large majority.
The accession needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the NATO defense clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.
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Starting second from left background: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson; front from left, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde sign a memorandum in which Turkey agrees to Finland and Sweden’s membership in the NATO defense alliance, Madrid, Spain, June 28, 2022.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The lower house vote on Tuesday was welcomed by Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party is seen as the front-runner in the national election, which will take place on Sept. 25.
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Fratelli D’Italia party leader Giorgia Meloni attends a rally for the elections in Piazza Roma on May 30, 2022, in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, strengthening the European front of the Alliance is an important step that can act as a deterrent to new Russian threats,” Meloni said in a statement.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the country’s transport industry via a video link in Sochi, Russia, May 24, 2022.
(Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via Reuters)
Meloni, leader of the most popular party in the conservative coalition, had supported Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s decision to ship weapons to Ukraine, even though it was in opposition to his government.
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However, her two main allies, the League and Forza Italia, have been much more ambivalent, reflecting their historically close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
