Ljubljana - The government adopted on Friday a bill to ratify the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, which were signed on Tuesday in Brussels, according to a press release issued after the government session.

The bill will now be discussed by the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee and then put to vote at the plenary session.

Two of NATO's closest partners, Sweden and Finland decided to put abandon their military neutrality and join NATO due to the changed security and political situation in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The two governments' decisions to join NATO had also been endorsed by the Finnish and Swedish parliaments and by the public in both countries, and the countries formally asked for NATO membership on 18 May.