Withdrawal from NATO
Notwithstanding, a number of former dependencies of NATO members have never applied for membership subsequent to their becoming independent states.
[5] As of 2022[update], the general consensus of the Canadian government is to support NATO membership as part of national defense policy.
[9] However, he also stated that France would remain in the alliance even after the end of the 20-year commitment period in 1969, unless the "fundamental elements of the relations between East and West" changed.
Mikhail Gorbachev finally removed the Soviet objection and the new eastern territories of Germany became covered by NATO on the condition that no foreign forces or weapons of mass destruction were to be located on them.
[17] Later in 1974 due to the invasion of Cyprus by Turkish forces, Greece withdrew from NATO military command.
[18] In 1980, the Greek foreign minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis made remarks about the situation where he could see Greece fully withdrawing from the organisation.
[21] The country's main nonpartisan pressure group for Iceland leaving NATO is Samtök hernaðarandstæðinga [is], which is a branch of War Resisters' International.
[23] A Gallup poll taken in March 2022 showed that 75% of Icelanders supported the country's NATO membership, 9% were opposed to it, and 16% were unsure.
Its membership is supported by all five main establishment parties in the Staten-General; the conservative-liberal VVD,[28] the social-democratic PvdA,[29] the christian-democrat CDA,[30] right-wing populist PVV,[31] and social-liberal D66.
[34] While the far-right populist Forum voor Democratie supports NATO membership, it was reported by the investigative show Zembla that privately the party's leader Thierry Baudet would like the Netherlands to leave NATO and align the country's foreign policy with Russia.
[44] The established consensus of the United Kingdom's defence and foreign policy framework includes full membership and participation of NATO.
[57] This led to some senior members of the SNP to leave the party, including John Finnie and Jean Urquhart.
The leader of Plaid Cymru at the time, Leanne Wood criticized her Scottish counterparts in an interview.
The bill provision came amidst then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's mixed messages on NATO.
At the time of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, many parts of the world were either overseas or dependent territories of countries such as France and the United Kingdom.
When Algeria gained its independence from France in 1962, its membership was ceased and the Article VI clause was no longer applicable.
[78][79] At the time of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, the Mediterranean island of Malta was a dependent territory in a form of a self-governing crown colony of the United Kingdom.
Dependent territories like Malta had the international memberships of their mother country, so the island was part of NATO.
[80] This changed in 1971, when Labour's Dom Mintoff was elected as prime minister and stated that Malta is neutral in its foreign policy,[81] a position which was later enacted into the country's constitution in 1974.
Later the country joined the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979, at the same time when the British Royal Navy left its base in Malta Dockyard.
[82][83] Membership of NATO is not supported by any of the country's political parties including the current governing Labour and the opposition Nationalists.
Polling done by the island-nation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs found in February 2022 (before the Russian invasion of Ukraine) that nearly two-thirds support the island's neutral position, and only 6% are against it.
In May 2022, Cyprus Defence Minister, Charalambos Petrides, confirmed that the country would not apply to NATO despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
