Finnish President to Norway with a possible Finnish NATO application as a backdrop
The case is being updated.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö arrives in Oslo on Thursday, and the program kicks off with a meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) at a conference organized by the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy (Nupis).
Then the Finnish president will go to the Palace to have lunch with King Harald. Niinistö will also go to the Storting to meet Storting President Masud Gharahkhani and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. On Thursday night, he will meet Støre again before meeting Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Labor Party) on Friday.
The agenda for Norwegian searches is, among other things, the security policy situation in Europe. The Finns’ path to a possible NATO membership is like a backdrop.
– If we apply for NATO membership, and I repeat if, yes then this must happen quickly, Niinistö said to NRK last week.
Close contact with Norway
Like several other European leaders, the Finnish president has spoken to both the presidents of Ukraine and Russia since the outbreak of the war. Last month, he was in Washington to visit President Joe Biden, and they agreed to strengthen defense cooperation.
The issue of NATO membership has been at the top of the security policy agenda in Finland since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Norwegian authorities have recently been in frequent and close contact with Swedes and Finns regarding possible NATO membership, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) told VG last week.
The contact has revolved around how to combine NATO membership with Russia’s neighborhood, according to Støre.
– I think both Sweden and Finland have studied Norway’s experiences carefully, because we have shown that we can be neighbors with Russia and keep the tension at the same time as we are a member of NATO, he said.
– Most likely
After all the sun marks, the Finns will soon submit an application, even though a final decision has not yet been made.
– At the present time, I can say that it is highly probable, but the decision has not yet been made, said Finland’s European Minister Tytti Tuppurainen on Good Friday.
Also for the Swedes, a NATO membership looks increasingly likely. On Wednesday last week, the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson held a joint press conference in Stockholm. The topic was NATO membership, but neither would conclude what the final outcome will be.
The NATO chief has opened the door wide for the Swedes and Finns, although he has repeatedly said that it is entirely up to the two countries whether they want to join the alliance or not.
An application process will take place quickly, Stoltenberg has said, and the possible memberships can be discussed already at the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June.
Russia warns
A Swedish delegation travels to Finland last week to hold a summit with the neighboring country on a possible future NATO membership, according to Expressen. President Niinistö was present at the meeting, which also included Sweden’s Minister of Finance Mikael Damberg, according to the newspaper.
Russia, for its part, has warned countries against applying for membership in the North Atlantic Defense Alliance and stated that this will have consequences.
They are considering stationing nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region in response to a possible Finnish and Swedish NATO membership, according to Russia’s former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. The Kremlin has also issued strong warnings.
“They must understand the consequences such a step will have for our bilateral relations and for the security architecture in Europe,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week.
(© NTB)