Finnish Parliament takes another step towards NATO membership

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin speaks in front of Parliament during the debate on NATO membership held on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. AP - Heikki Saukkomaa

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2 mins

Of all the European countries that would like to join NATO, Finland is surely the one that has made the most progress on this path.

Last week, the government presented a detailed report setting out the implications of possible membership.

This Wednesday, this report was discussed in the Finnish Parliament, throughout the afternoon. 

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During this debate, eight out of ten parliamentary groups came out in favor of joining NATO.

The extreme right party of the True Finns has become favorable to it, like the Center Party, very present in the countryside, and the Greens, which have just changed their political line.

As for the Social Democrats, the most important party in the ruling coalition, they wanted Finland to join a military alliance, without however mentioning the name NATO, reports our correspondent in Stockholm,

. 

Everyone has their own idea of ​​what Finland will have to accept in order to benefit from the protection of its future allies, but many insist on one point: this membership cannot be achieved without that of its Swedish neighbor, with whom military and political ties are very strong. . 

A matter of weeks

The Finnish population being already acquired in NATO, the next step could be a vote of the Parliament which would officially request this membership.

A decision which, according

, is only a matter of weeks, and which could be announced at the next Atlantic Alliance summit to be held in Madrid next June.

It is " 

 " that Finland is a candidate, Finnish European Affairs Minister Tytti Tuppurainen acknowledged on Friday.

Long divided on the issue, the 200 members of the Eduskunta, the Finnish Parliament, seem mostly in favor of membership, according to media scores, which found only 12 oppositions.

"

", because Moscow " 

 ", judged Antti Lindtman, parliamentarian of the ruling Social Democratic Party, during the debate , without going so far as to announce a reversal of its movement, historically reluctant to join NATO.

► To read also: Finland takes a first step towards NATO

Without expressing a formal recommendation, a "white paper" submitted last week by the government to parliamentarians emphasizes that only membership of NATO makes it possible to benefit from the "umbrella" of its article 5 of collective defence.

Even if it broke with its strict neutrality at the end of the Cold War and joined the European Union in 1995, the Nordic country is today only a NATO partner.

Joining the 30-member alliance would provide "significantly greater" deterrence against a Russian attack, according to the white paper.

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