Obstacles to Finland’s NATO membership have almost been removed – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

So it was finally decided. Finland is making the necessary legislative changes to join NATO. It is clear after the overwhelming majority: 187 out of 200 in parliament voted for it. voted 7 against.

But it wasn’t entirely without drama, because his adoption was supposed to take place on Tuesday.
Shortly after a meeting was set for Tuesday, Marcus Mostajarvi, a member of the Liberal Alliance, put forward a motion to reject the NATO agreements.

He also made three new proposals. Finland should make it clear that nuclear weapons will not be placed on Finnish soil (most likely they will not be required to do so). This is not specified in the legal text.

He also suggested that Finland ban the armed forces of other countries from being permanently located in Finland. The third is to demand that Finland not be used as a base by NATO countries to carry out hostile purposes against others.

New vote

Thus, these proposals had to be voted on before the Swedish Parliament finally took a stand on Wednesday on the legal text guaranteeing the country’s readiness to join NATO.

For the record: they were denied. There are no plans for nuclear weapons on Finnish soil, and NATO has stated that it is not appropriate to have permanent NATO bases in Sweden or Finland. Both countries already have a good and well-equipped defense.

What the Finnish Riksdag has officially done today is, simply put, agree that they must follow the laws of NATO. This had to be done before they could be accepted as members.

What remains then, for Finland, is that Hungary and Turkey, both of which have said they agree to Finland’s request for NATO, do.

Then President Süley Niinisto must sign the amendment to the law. It is expected that he will do so very soon.

Once all of this is in the box, all that’s left is some paperwork in Brussels and Washington. Then, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, or perhaps Defense Minister Mikko Savola, can sit down at a table at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Then they don’t just have to listen to the discussions (which they are entitled to as the applicant’s country). Then they can also vote and decide in NATO. They are fully protected by the much-discussed Article 5 – “An attack on one Member State is an attack on all”.

The waiting time is over

There were also reports this week that Turkey would not necessarily process Swedish and Finnish NATO requests at the same time. Thus, Finland could suddenly get more or less a yes to NATO at any time.

On April 2 there are parliamentary elections in Finland. Although there was, and likely will remain after the election, a broad agreement to apply for NATO membership, the Riksdag, the government and the president want the formalities to be in place before the Riksdag elections.

Finland could not wait any longer.

The moment the President signs these legislative changes that were passed today, they will go into effect.

But it has caused some headaches in Finland.

Because in theory, the president could have waited several months, thus giving Sweden a chance to get guarantees from Turkey that their request would be granted.

Then the countries can enter together.

But after a reasonably sweaty press conference inside a storage room at the Swedish prime minister’s official country residence, Harpsund, two hours from Stockholm on Feb. 22, the president, almost bored, repeated that he had to sign the bill before it could be issued. new law. Riksdag was in place.

So it will happen very soon. Maybe as early as Wednesday or later this week.

Finland has its own security and 1,340 kilometers of border with Russia to consider.

If Turkey is serious about processing Finland’s application first, there are only small formalities left before Finland can be accepted as a member.

But what about Sweden?

It looked dark. And when it didn’t look darker, it got even darker for NATO’s Swedish operation. What was supposed to be a spring when the country was going to make plans for its future contribution to NATO and figure out which military capabilities needed to be strengthened was marked by diplomatic headaches.

Kurdish activist groups hang an effigy of Erdogan outside City Hall in Stockholm. On January 21, Rasmus Paludan set fire to the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Turkey responded angrily to Sweden. It simply seemed completely black and white for Sweden to get Turkey to agree to let them join NATO.

“We go in together and at the same time,” was the tone of the review each time a Swedish or Finnish politician was asked direct questions. The countries, with very strong diplomatic and economic ties, stood shoulder to shoulder.

But something changed when problems arose for Sweden.

The door that opened, closed, opened, and opened again

On Monday after the burning of the Holy Quran in Al-Wudan in Stockholm, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto was a guest on the morning program on YLE, which is the Finnish equivalent of NRK. Here he opened up the possibility that Finland could continue the NATO operation without Sweden.

The news spread all over the world. And Finnish politicians several times, including Haavisto, had to correct the statement. When Sanna Marin, Finland’s prime minister, was in Stockholm on February 2, she slammed the door on anyone who thought Finland would move forward with NATO without Sweden. He stressed that the countries will continue the process together.

A few days later, however, the Riksdag parties decided that a formal vote on changing the legislation, so that the country could follow NATO’s laws, had to take place before the Riksdag elections. Thus, it seems more and more that Sweden has to realize that it has to go down the last part of the NATO path on its own.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in January that this was the most serious security challenge the country had faced since World War Two. Although many countries, and even NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, have given Sweden security guarantees if, contrary to the assumption, something threatens Swedish security during this period, there is a small “but”.

Whichever way you look at it, Sweden is not covered by the much-discussed Article V of the NATO Statute as long as it stays out. Thus, they cannot demand that all member states of the alliance turn their noses towards Sweden, if they feel threatened.

It was fine to stay out of alliances for 200 years. But now Sweden has chosen a team. They are no longer neutral. Therefore, there are many who feel exposed in Sweden. Although there was no indication that any external enemy would threaten Sweden.

And Hungary, which promised to ratify a Swedish and Finnish NATO request last fall, doesn’t seem to be having a bad time. The message came this week that they “may” endorse the applications by the end of March.

The only question is whether the Swedish defense minister will have to concede continued membership when the NATO summit takes place in Vilnius on July 11.

Finland getting all NATO rights on the list seems more and more certain.