HELSINK — Finland officially announced its intention to join NATO on Sunday as Sweden’s
ruling party said it backed membership, paving the way for a joint application.
اضافة اعلان
Less than three
months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the announcements are a stunning reversal
of the two Nordic countries’ military non-alignment policies, dating back more
than 75 years for Finland and two centuries for Sweden.
Public and
political support for NATO membership has surged in Finland and Sweden in
recent months, and they are widely expected to submit applications this week.
“This is a
historic day. A new era is opening”, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told
reporters at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Sanna Marin on
Sunday.
“The best thing
for Sweden’s security is that we apply for membership now, and that we do it
with Finland,” Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said
several hours later in Stockholm.
The turnaround
by her party, which has opposed NATO membership since the birth of the
alliance, secures a firm majority in Sweden’s parliament in favor of joining.
Andersson said
nonetheless that she would consult parliament on Monday before announcing her
government’s official intention to apply.
The issue had
divided the Social Democrats, with some members expressing concern that the
decision was being rushed through.
If Sweden’s
application were approved, the party would work to express “unilateral
reservations against the deployment of nuclear weapons and permanent bases on
Swedish territory”, it said in a statement.
According to
recent polls, the number of Finns who want to join the alliance has risen to
more than three-quarters, almost triple the level seen before the war in
Ukraine began on February 24.
Support in
Sweden has also risen dramatically, to around 50 percent — with about 20
percent against.
NATO membership
needs to be approved and ratified by all 30 members of the alliance.
Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed last-minute objections, but NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that Ankara was not opposed to
the two countries’ bids.
“Turkey made it
clear that its intention is not to block membership,” Stoltenberg told
reporters virtually after alliance foreign ministers met in Berlin.
“I am confident
we’ll be able to find common ground, consensus on how to move on membership
issues,” Stoltenberg said, adding that he was in touch with Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Cavusoglu
meanwhile lauded Finland’s conciliatory approach in their talks, but criticized
Sweden’s foreign minister for “provocative” statements.
‘Confident of consensus’
Turkey’s objections, directed in particular at Stockholm, focus on what it
considers to be the countries’ leniency towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK), which is on the EU’s list of terrorist organizations.
US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken nonetheless insisted he was “very confident that we will
reach consensus” on the two countries’ NATO bids.
Niinisto said he
was “prepared to have a new discussion with President Erdogan about the
problems he has raised”.
Finland’s
parliament will convene to debate the membership proposal on Monday.
“We hope the
parliament will confirm the decision to apply for NATO membership during the
coming days. It will be based on a strong mandate,” premier Marin said.
A vast majority of
Finnish MPs back the decision after Marin’s Social Democratic Party on Saturday
said it was in favor of joining.
“Hopefully, we can
send our applications next week together with Sweden,” Marin had said on
Saturday.
The two Nordic
countries broke their strict neutralities after the end of the Cold War by
joining the EU and becoming partners to NATO in the 1990s, solidifying their
affiliation with the West.
But the concept of
full NATO membership was a non-starter in the countries until the war in
Ukraine saw public and political support for joining the alliance soar.
Finland, which
shares a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia, has been leading the
charge, while Sweden has expressed concern about being the only non-NATO
country around the Baltic Sea.
Finland is also
Sweden’s closest defense cooperation partner.
Many Swedish politicians have said their support was
conditional on Finland joining.
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