The President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, ratified today the legislation for the country to join NATO, already approved almost unanimously by the Parliament, concluding the last step of the national process of approval of the adhesion to the Atlantic Alliance.
On the 1st of this month, the Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament) approved with 184 votes in favor and seven against the Nordic country’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a historic decision that put an end to decades of military neutrality and which aims to now strengthen security against possible aggression from neighboring Russia.
The accession process for Finland, which applied in May 2022 at the same time as Sweden, will be completed once it has been ratified by Hungary and Turkey, the only two NATO members that have not yet approved it.
After postponing the debate and subsequent parliamentary vote several times on the entry of the two Nordic countries into the Atlantic Alliance, Budapest recently announced that Parliament will vote in favor of Finland’s entry next Monday.
For his part, about a week ago, during a visit by Niinistö to Istanbul, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that Ankara will give the “green light” to Finland’s accession to NATO, although it is not yet known when the ratification process in the Turkish Parliament.
The Finnish authorities want NATO membership to be concluded as soon as possible, in time for them to participate in the Atlantic Alliance Summit, which will take place in Lithuania, on 11 and 12 July as full members.
Helsinki’s initial objective was to formalize accession at the same time as Sweden, but Hungary’s and, above all, Turkey’s reluctance to Stockholm’s entry could prolong the Swedish process.
At the end of February, the Hungarian Prime Minister, the ultranationalist Viktor Orbán, assured that, although he supports integration, both Sweden and Finland “spread lies” about the situation of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.
Erdogan maintains his veto on Sweden’s entry because Stockholm refuses to extradite people Ankara considers linked to terrorist organizations, especially from the Kurdish sphere, and demands the continuation of negotiations.
