Ukrainian war Finnish parliament does not wait for Sweden and approves in advance to join NATO

The Finnish parliament approved this Wednesday in advance and with an overwhelming majority the entry into NATO, for which the ratification of Hungary and Turkey is essential

Ukrainian war Finnish parliament does not wait for Sweden and approves in advance to join NATO

The Finnish parliament approved this Wednesday in advance and with an overwhelming majority the entry into NATO, for which the ratification of Hungary and Turkey is essential.

The Finnish deputies approved by 184 votes in favor and seven against a law that allows the entry of Finland into the Western military alliance.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden decided to turn the page on their policy of military non-alignment in force since the 1990s, heir to decades of neutrality, and applied to NATO in May 2022.

Finland had so far expressed its willingness to join with Sweden. But the difficulties that Stockholm faces with Turkey, which culminated in a series of diplomatic incidents in January, changed the situation.

With the legislative elections on April 2 on the near horizon, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin wanted to leave the matter closed to avoid any kind of political vacuum in order to enter NATO once the Hungarian and Turkish agreement was reached. .

NATO membership had almost unanimous support from Finnish parties, including those who were against the alliance before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Only a handful of deputies from the extreme left and extreme right voted against, citing, among other issues, the lack of guarantees that nuclear weapons would not be installed in the territory.

The approval of the Finnish law does not mean that the country automatically joins the military alliance.

After this vote, all that remains is for the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, to give his approval to the entry and, then, for Hungary and Turkey to ratify it, the only two NATO member countries that have not yet done so.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project