The President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, ratified this Thursday the legislation for the country’s entry into NATO, already approved almost unanimously by Parliament, concluding the last step of the national process of approval of the accession to the Atlantic Alliance.
On the 1st of this month, the Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament) approved with 184 votes in favor and seven against the accession of the Nordic country to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a historic decision that put an end to decades of military neutrality. and that its objective is now to reinforce security against possible attacks from neighboring Russia.
For his part, about a week ago, during a visit by Niinistö to Istanbul, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that Ankara will give the “green light” to Finland’s accession to NATO. This afternoon, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament approved Finland’s accession to the alliance.
Finland’s accession process, which was presented in May 2022 at the same time as Sweden, will be completed once it is ratified by Hungary and Turkey, the only two NATO members that have not yet approved it.
After several times postponing the debate and subsequent parliamentary vote on the entry of the two Nordic countries into the Atlantic Alliance, Budapest recently announced that Parliament will vote in favor of Finland’s entry next Monday.
The Finnish authorities want NATO membership to be completed as soon as possible, in time to participate in the Atlantic Alliance Summit, which will take place in Lithuania on July 11-12 as full members.
The initial objective of Helsinki was to formalize the accession at the same time as Sweden, but the reluctance of Hungary and, above all, of Turkey to the entry of Stockholm could prolong the Swedish process.
At the end of February, the Hungarian prime minister, the ultranationalist Viktor Orbán, assured that, although he supports integration, both Sweden and Finland “spread lies” about the situation of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.
Erdogan maintains his veto on Sweden’s entry because Stockholm refuses to extradite people Ankara considers linked to terrorist organizations, especially from the Kurdish sphere, and demands the continuation of negotiations.
Source: TSF
