Both Finland and Sweden intend to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, possibly in the next few weeks. Originally established in 1949, NATO seeks to protect the freedom and security of its membership. To ratify and complete the membership process, Finland and Sweden will need to spend months going through parliaments to formalize the process. The governments of the US and the UK have both stated that they wish to help with providing security support to Finland and Sweden throughout the time-consuming process. 

To request membership, Finland and Sweden must send a letter written by a government minister or leader. Then, there is a meeting between the North Atlantic Council, which is composed of thirty different countries. There is then another discussion after the NAC agrees to the request, lasting one whole day. During this discussion, the officials of Finland and Sweden would be asked if they would uphold Article 5. This guarantees that members of NATO must recognize that an attack on one NATO ally is an attack on all. Only when candidates agree with this article can they be allowed to join NATO.