Finland has come one step closer to NATO membership. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Thursday approved his country’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Prime Minister Sanna Marin will announce definitively on Saturday whether Finland is applying for membership or not.
Since the war in Ukraine, more and more voices have been raised in Finland to join NATO in order to protect the country against threats from Russia. Finland shares a 1,300 kilometer border with Russia.
The Finnish ruling party will announce its position on Saturday. There already seems to be a majority in favor of accession in the Finnish parliament. This is probably also the case in Sweden. The Swedish ruling party is likely to make a decision on Sunday.
Finland and Sweden did not join NATO before in order to maintain good ties with Russia (and before that the Soviet Union) and to remain neutral. That position has changed for many citizens after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Three out of four Finns are now in favor of joining NATO. Moscow has already threatened that any accession would have “political and military consequences”.
The two Scandinavian countries already work closely with NATO militarily, but all thirty current member states must first agree to join. According to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, that is not a problem and Finland and Sweden can join soon.