PRAGUE, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Republic's lower house of parliament approved Finland and Sweden's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it announced on Saturday.
The Chamber of Deputies is the second of the country's two parliamentary bodies to give its approval, following the Senate's decision. It now must be signed by the country's president to complete the ratification.
The two Nordic countries applied for membership into the military bloc in early July amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In order to be accepted, their accession documents must be ratified by all 30 NATO members.
Finland and Sweden's NATO bids were initially blocked by Türkiye, which accused them of supporting anti-Türkiye groups as they rejected Ankara's extradition requests for suspects affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gulen Movement.
In early July, the two Nordic countries completed accession talks at NATO's headquarters in Brussels and the 30 allies signed their accession protocols, which then go to all NATO countries for ratification, according to their national procedures. ■
