Finland to decide on NATO membership “within a few weeks”, Sweden can follow – EURACTIV.com
Finland will decide whether to apply to join NATO in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday (April 13), underlining a change in the security perspective since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Finland and neighboring Sweden are close partners with NATO, but have so far withdrawn from joining the Western military alliance, a change that has also been brought about by Russia’s increasingly harsh rhetoric against Helsinki and Stockholm.
Marin spoke with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson in Stockholm and said that the alternative of joining NATO must be analyzed carefully, but that everything had changed when Russian forces invaded Ukraine at the end of February.
“The difference between being a partner and being a member is very clear and will remain so. “There is no other way to have security guarantees than under NATO deterrence and common defense guaranteed by NATO Article 5,” she said.
Finland is likely to make a decision on NATO “within weeks, rather than months”, Marin added.
“There are different perspectives on applying for (re) NATO membership or not applying and we need to analyze these very carefully,” she told reporters.
“But I think our process will be pretty fast, it will happen in a few weeks.”
She said it was important to reach a consensus in Finland, which fought Soviet invaders during World War II and has been militarily non-aligned since then, and that political parties will have internal talks and in parliament in the coming weeks.
Helsinki took a significant step closer to a possible NATO membership when the Finnish government launched a White Paper update on its foreign and security policy and changes in the country’s strategic environment.
The report intends to prepare the Finnish Parliament for a thorough debate on foreign, security and defense policy, but does not make a policy recommendation to join NATO other than listing the risks and benefits of such a step.
“The security situation in Europe and Finland is more serious and difficult to predict than at any time since the Cold War,” the Finnish government said in a report.
“The change in the security situation”, according to the Finnish authorities, “is expected to be long-lasting” while “Russia’s demands and military actions aimed at changing the European security architecture also affect Finland’s room for maneuver in foreign, security and defense policy.”
But the report also warned that “if Finland applies for NATO membership, it should be prepared for extensive efforts to exercise influence and risks that are difficult to predict, such as rising tensions on the border between Finland and Russia.”
When the report was presented, the country’s Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen said he wanted broad consensus and said that a NATO application requires unanimous support from NATO members, the people, parliament, the government and the president.
Finland This is what President Sauli Niinistö said in an interview with the Finnish TV channel YLE he expected a decision to be made “well in advance” of the June NATO summit in Madrid when asked about the timeline for a potential application; .
“It simply came to our notice then [Madrid Summit]. Much attention is now being paid to that summit. But NATO also has other ways of reacting and responding if someone expresses a willingness to join, “he said.
Niinistö also added that he hopes for a “quick but thorough” consideration of Parliament’s report.
Both Finland and Sweden, which are also reviewing their security policies with conclusions expected at the end of May, both participate in NATO exercises and crisis management initiatives and exchange intelligence with the Alliance.
However, both Marin and Andersson avoided making publicity about their intention to join NATO.
Andersson said that the Swedish process “should not be rushed”, but that she also sees “no point in delaying”. Sweden will hold elections in September.
NATO officials have said that if both countries decide to proceed with an application, they would be welcomed with open arms and that their integration into the alliance would be a relatively simple affair as they already meet a majority of the criteria.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto spoke to reporters in Helsinki, citing three changes as reasons why NATO should give Finland more security.
These include the fact that Russia is increasingly ready to take risks, has the capacity to gather more than 100,000 troops to pressure its neighbors, and, most importantly, the fact that discussions across the country “Unconventional” weapons, such as chemical and nuclear weapons, have become more “loose”.
Asked about possible security guarantees during the application period, Haavisto said that he had discussed the application process with NATO allies.
“The gray area, which is after the application (…) before you really join NATO, should be as short as possible,” Haavisto said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that he was “confident that we will find ways to address the concerns they may have regarding the period between the potential application and the final ratification.”
The Russian government said on Monday that Sweden’s and Finland’s possible accession to NATO would not provide stability to Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Russia would need to “rebalance the situation” with its own measures.