In view of the Ukraine war, Finland and Sweden will apply for NATO membership in 2022. The Finnish parliament now approves the accession with a large majority. Hungary could also ratify it soon, but things with Turkey are more difficult.
Finland is ready to join NATO, but still has to wait for the green light from Turkey and Hungary. Parliament in Helsinki voted by a large majority in favor of a government proposal on the legislation needed to join the Western Defense Alliance. 184 members of the Reichstag voted in favor, only seven against. One MP cast a blank vote and seven others were absent. President Sauli Niinistö still has to approve the whole thing, but has announced that he will do so immediately. However, the accession of the Finns has still not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary, whose parliament, however, started a debate on the accession protocols.
In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland, like neighboring Sweden, applied for NATO membership in May 2022. For the two northernmost countries of the EU, this was a historic step after a long period of military non-alignment. For Finland, there is also the fact that it has a border with Russia that is around 1,340 kilometers long. The Finnish border guard plans to build a fence on parts of this border. The project is still in the pilot phase. All 30 current NATO members must ratify the admission of the two Nordic countries. 28 of them have done so for a long time, but Turkey and Hungary have not. Hungarian approval is expected in the coming week. However, Turkey has long blocked NATO's northern expansion. She justifies this attitude primarily with the fact that Sweden does not take sufficient action against terrorist organizations.
In view of this blockade, there is some question as to whether Finland could possibly be admitted to NATO on its own for the time being, should Sweden's accession drag on. However, both countries have always asserted that they want to become members together and at the same time. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had recently signaled his willingness to let Finland into NATO, but not Sweden for the time being. The reason for this had been several Islamophobic actions in Stockholm, in which, among other things, a Koran was burned. Another factor in the blockade is that Turkey is currently in the election campaign ahead of early elections on May 14, which will also involve Erdogan's re-election. There are hopes of progress in the far north of Europe for Thursday in a week's time: Turkey, Sweden and Finland want to continue their stalled talks about accession in Brussels.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced his government's proposal for new terror legislation on the same day. This is an important step to complete the trilateral memorandum between the countries, he said. The agreement was reached last June at the NATO summit in Madrid. The aim of Kristersson's government is for the new terror laws to come into force on June 1 - probably also to appease Erdogan.
The Finns and Swedes should have an easier time with Hungary: The State Secretary in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peter Sztaray, spoke on behalf of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban in favor of ratifying the accession protocols. The vote could take place early next week. The approval of the protocols is considered secured. The left and liberal opposition also wants to vote for it.
