The Finnish candidacy for NATO, a path strewn with pitfalls
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto attends a news conference on Finland's security policy decisions at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, May 15, 2022. via REUTERS - LEHTIKUVA
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Historic day for Finland this Sunday: it puts an end to its very old policy of external neutrality, and chooses to join NATO following the war in Ukraine.
Its neighbour, Sweden, is very likely to follow the same path.
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It is not certain that
this historic decision will
lead Finland smoothly to NATO membership, because some obstacles could arise, notes
our correspondent in Brussels
Pierre Benazet
.
The NATO candidacy must now be approved by the Finnish Parliament, which is not a real problem.
But this must be done in order to be able to formally send a letter of application to the Atlantic Alliance.
It is only then that NATO will begin to examine this candidacy, which Finland believed to be unhindered, since it is politically close to the 30 allied countries and its army is fully interoperable with the armies of the 'Alliance.
But that was counting without Turkey,
which continued to express doubts this Sunday
.
"
Obviously, our interest would be that the ratification process is as short as possible and that it happens smoothly,
" said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
We had no indication at NATO that there would be any problems with the candidacy of Finland or Sweden, and then we see these declarations on questions that remain.
It is important that we have discussions with these countries in a calm way, to discuss the problems that there might be.
»
The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs specified that Turkey saw Finland's candidacy for NATO more favorably than that of Sweden.
But that does nothing to reassure the Finns, who want simultaneous membership with that of the Swedes.
The Finnish and Swedish parliaments are working this Monday on the candidacies of the two Nordic countries for NATO, with large majorities guaranteed in both chambers.
The Eduskunta, the Finnish Parliament, began a marathon session to examine the candidacy officially presented yesterday by the executive, before a vote which will take place at the earliest on Tuesday.
According to the latest Finnish media reports, at least 85% of the 200 elected will vote yes to the NATO candidacy.
The Swedish Parliament meets from mid-morning with an allowance from Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson followed by the leaders of the parliamentary parties.
With the historic swing of the Social Democratic party to power on Sunday, six of the eight parties in parliament are now in favor of membership, representing a theoretical majority of 304 deputies out of a total of 349.
A laborious process
The Secretary General of NATO has promised to welcome these two new members with open arms, but this will not happen overnight.
Because entering NATO is a very codified process, recalls
Vincent Souriau
of the international service, which is prepared step by step.
The latest entrant is North Macedonia, which completed its membership process on March 27, 2020. It took a year for everything to work.
First, all member states must be convinced unanimously: the 30 NATO countries must formally invite Finland and Sweden to join the organization.
Then several meetings take place in Brussels, a kind of great oral where the applicants deliver their profession of faith: "
Yes, we are committed to the rule of law, we promote human rights and the democratic control of armed forces, and we are ready to modify our legislation to facilitate international military cooperation.
»
There is also the economic chapter, because each member, depending on its size, must contribute to the common budget of the Alliance.
At the end of the road, Finland and Sweden will have to wait for each of the Member States to ratify their accession protocol.
What will happen if, in the meantime, the situation deteriorates?
NATO promises to reinforce what it calls the “
security guarantees
” already in force, to reassure Stockholm and Helsinki between now and their final integration.
(and with agencies)
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