Finland’s Parliament To Vote On NATO Membership

The head of Finland’s foreign affairs committee announced on Friday that the parliament would vote on February 28 to approve the necessary legislation to allow the country to eventually become a member of NATO.

“The goal is to complete the national legislative process required for NATO membership during this electoral term,” committee chief Jussi Halla-aho said on Friday, just two weeks before parliament adjourns for elections.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland and neighboring Sweden applied to join the Western military alliance in May.

However, existing member Turkey has objected to their admission, accusing the Nordic countries of harboring so-called Kurdish terrorist groups.

“It is a manifestation of our will. Turkey’s stance toward our will is solely in Turkey’s hands,” President Sauli Niinisto told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich security conference.

The legislation that ratifies NATO’s founding treaties in Finland is likely to be passed, given that most members of parliament are in favour of joining the alliance, bringing Finland a step closer to membership ahead of Sweden.

Niinisto said Finland would go ahead with its membership without Sweden if Turkey decided to ratify the Finnish bid but not the Swedish one.

Finland will not become a member of the Western military alliance until Turkey and Hungary ratify its bid.

Though both Sweden and Finland have insisted they wish to join simultaneously, leaders of both countries have said they cannot rule out Finland going first.

Turkey has said it was not supportive of Sweden’s bid, though Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in January said he was open to ratifying Finland’s application.

“We are not taking part in any bazaar negotiations… we take care of our own part (in the ratifications),” the foreign affairs committee’s vice chairman Erkki Tuomioja told reporters.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said last Tuesday it does not matter whether the Nordic countries join together as long as the bids are ratified “as soon as possible”.