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3:10 p.m. : Hello @Zola and @silobe aware that the process of joining NATO is codified: once the decision has been taken by a third country to join, the members of the Alliance (they are 30 in total, including 21 EU member countries) must accept unanimously to invite him to join them. Turkey has indeed expressed reservations about the integration of Finland and Sweden, but several participants at an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin today expressed confidence in the possibility of reach a consensus.
3:10 p.m. : Hello, the detractors of NATO expansion will they be blocking? Do they have veto power?
3:09 p.m. : I ask my question again: do you need unanimity to join NATO?
3:03 p.m. : The candidature of Finland and Sweden to NATO is the proof that an aggression “don’t pay”also assures Jens Stoltenberg, while the two Scandinavian countries are accelerating their accession.
3:03 p.m. : In a press conference, the Secretary General of NATO estimated that “Russia is not achieving its strategic goals” and “Ukraine can win this war”recalling that “the allies have pledged billions of dollars in aid” in Kyiv.
3:03 p.m. : “Ukraine can win” the “war” against Russia, says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
2:32 p.m. : The Ukrainian Foreign Minister welcomed the “previous” created by Germany’s decision to supply the first heavy weapons to kyiv, in a video posted on its Facebook account. On Ukraine obtaining the status of candidate for entry into the EU – on which the 27 member states, divided, must decide in June – Dmytro Kouleba called on Berlin to play a leading role in this direction.
2:03 p.m. : Let’s take a look at the news:
• Finland has announced its candidacy “historical” to NATO, before a decisive meeting in Sweden with a view to a probable application for simultaneous membership of the two countries. Despite last-minute hostility from Turkey, NATO member countries are “on the right track” to find a consensus on the integration of Finland and Sweden, judged the head of Croatian diplomacy Gordan Grlic Radman, on the sidelines of a meeting of ministers of the alliance in Berlin. Follow our live.
•Emmanuel Macron and the new head of state of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed ben Zayed, affirmed their desire to strengthen the strategic partnership, already very advanced, between their two countries, during a meeting in Abu Dhabi. The French president was the first Western leader to go there to pay tribute to Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirati president who died on Friday.
•Pope Francis has proclaimed ten figures of the Church “saints”, including the hermit of the desert Charles de Foucauld, in front of thousands of faithful from all over the world gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Among these ten “canonized” include the French monks Marie Rivier (1768-1838) and César de Bus (1544-1607) as well as the Dutch priest and journalist Titus Brandsma, known for his commitment against Nazi propaganda during the Second World War.
• The health crisis will not ultimately have spared North Korea. Fifteen new deaths due to “fever” were recorded just three days after the country’s first-ever Covid-19 case was officially announced, the official state agency KCNA said. The death toll now stands at 42, while 820,620 cases have been reported (compared to 524,440 the day before).
1:43 p.m. : The Finnish President has confirmed that his country is officially a candidate for NATO membership. For Thierry Breton, “you really have to realize that this is a historic day”. Since Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, “It’s been 27 years since such an important event happened”underlined the European commissioner.
1:45 p.m. : If their membership is confirmed, the two Nordic countries will tie themselves a little closer to the Western blocs. The shift has been gradual since the Russian attack on Ukraine at the end of February, accentuated by a pro-NATO outburst in public opinion in both countries.
1:43 p.m. : #NATO“It’s a historic day. A new era is dawning”, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said at a press conference. Less than three months after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Nordic country is preparing, alongside Sweden, to turn the page of military non-alignment dating back more than 75 years in Finland and dating back to the 19th century in Sweden. .
(Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP)
12:34 p.m. : Finland formalizes its application to join NATO.
1:52 p.m. : Let’s take a look at the news:
• The last-minute opposition displayed by Turkey, a member of NATO, to the integration of Finland and Sweden, casts uncertainty over the outcome of the process. “I am convinced that the allies that we are will view our membership of this alliance with a constructive and positive eye”, however, declared the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, who said he was confident in the possibility of reaching a consensus. Follow our live.
• In the aftermath of their Eurovision Song Contest victory, Ukraine is preparing for decisive battles in the Donbass, with kyiv confident of winning after Russian setbacks on the front lines. Russian forces are trying to advance in this strategic eastern region, which Moscow has made its main objective since the withdrawal of its troops from the vicinity of kyiv at the end of March.
•Emmanuel Macron and the new head of state of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed ben Zayed, affirmed their desire to strengthen the strategic partnership, already very advanced, between their two countries, during a meeting in Abu Dhabi. The French president was the first Western leader to go there to pay tribute to Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirati president who died on Friday.
•Pope Francis has proclaimed ten figures of the Church “saints”, including the hermit of the desert Charles de Foucauld, in front of thousands of faithful from all over the world gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, in Rome. Among these ten “canonized” are the French religious Marie Rivier (1768-1838) and César de Bus (1544-1607) as well as the Dutch priest and journalist Titus Brandsma, known for his commitment against Nazi propaganda during the Second World War.
12:31 p.m. : “I am convinced that the allies that we are will view our membership of this alliance with a constructive and positive eye”, however, declared the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, who also said he was confident in the possibility of reaching a consensus. The German Foreign Minister even assured that the accessions of Finland and Sweden could take place “very quickly”.
09:44 : “[Dans ces camps] medical care is generally poor, as is food. They are not provided with clothes, and they have no money.”
What’s going on inside? The Ukrainians who have come out do not mention torture, but for some the interrogations continue. They are sometimes prevented from leaving, and they are not looked after. Unfortunately, there are still many gray areas.
09:42 : Those who have no family or friends to accommodate them in Russia are taken to “temporary accommodation points” : hotels, summer camps, and even a former chemical weapons depot, all refurbished. There would be more than 500 spread across the country, including in the most isolated areas such as Siberia.
09:41 : “They were told: either you stay in a basement in Mariupol without water, without electricity, without food, without care and you will die… Or you go to Russia.”
Ukrainians who want to leave Mariupol or areas occupied by Russian forces must first go through “filtration camps”, where they are subjected to interrogations with variable progress: often long, sometimes brutal – and some disappear. Then we leave them a “choice” : return to bombarded Ukraine, where they have often lost everything, by their own means… Or find refuge in Russia.
09:38 : It’s a word that we thought relegated to the history books: “deportation”. But on April 20, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “deport” Ukrainians in “special fields” or they “disappear”. Moscow denies: they are not forcibly moved, and they go to “shelters”. What do we really know? We take stock.
(ALEXEY KUDENKO / SPUTNIK / AFP)
12:32 p.m. : We immediately make a point on the news:
•An 18-year-old white man opened fire yesterday in a supermarket in New York State, killing at least ten people, the majority of them African-Americans. The authorities denounce a new racist killing of a white supremacist. The killer, who was heavily armed, was immediately arrested on the spot, initially prosecuted for “premeditated murder” and imprisoned.
• Météo France placed six departments on orange alert this morning, from Normandy to the Loire Valley, due to thunderstorms expected in the afternoon, while a large part of the rest of the country is on yellow alert for the same reason.
• Ukraine’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest shows “the immense public support” which benefits the country attacked by Russia, judge the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana. Thanks to viewers’ votes, the Kalush Orchestra, whose song Stefania mixes hip-hop and traditional music, won the European competition. France arrived penultimate with the group Alvan & Ahez.
• Polling stations opened for the first few legislative elections since Lebanon has been devastated by many crises. Some 3.9 million voters are called to ballot to renew the 128 members of Parliament. Final results are expected tomorrow.
• Finland is to formalize its candidacy for NATO today, before a decisive meeting of the ruling party in Sweden with a view to a probable joint application for membership by the two countries.