Part of the alliance: what is behind the introduction of a draft law on joining NATO in the Finnish Parliament

The Cabinet of Ministers of Finland submitted to Parliament a bill on the country's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance.

This was reported by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“On December 5, the Finnish government submitted a proposal to the parliament to join NATO.

About 1,600 opinions were received on the draft proposal,” reads a press release from the Foreign Ministry.

The bill included additions relating, in particular, to cooperation between the Cabinet of Ministers and the President of the Republic, the role of parliament in considering and making decisions on issues of the bloc and the international legal status of the Åland Islands (autonomy within Finland with a demilitarized status), the report says.

“By becoming a member of NATO, Finland will comply with the North Atlantic Treaty and participate in all aspects of NATO activities.

Finland is militarily preparing to fulfill its collective defense obligation under Article 5, which includes the use of armed force.

At the same time, it is noted that Finland's membership in the alliance will have certain consequences "in terms of the economy and human resources", which "will be clarified" when the country becomes a member of NATO.

“The proposal concludes that the North Atlantic Treaty would not become a problem for Finland's sovereignty and participation in international cooperation and that Finland's accession to this treaty would not imply to any significant extent the transfer of competence to an international organization.

Thus, Parliament could make a decision on the adoption of this treaty by a simple majority of votes,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

By law, Parliament can study the government's proposal before it is approved by all NATO member states, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said.

After the Parliament discusses the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers, the President of the Republic decides on its entry into NATO.

“However, the instrument of Finland's accession may be deposited with the United States government, which acts as depositary, and Finland will be able to become a member of NATO only after all NATO member states have ratified the accession protocol for Finland and the Secretary General of NATO has invited Finland to join alliance,” the diplomatic department explained.

• Office of the Chancellor of Justice on Senate Square, Helsinki

• Gettyimages.ru

"We are not asking for nuclear weapons"

Recall that Finland and Sweden applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance in the spring, and in the summer the accession protocols were signed in the bloc.

In addition, NATO announced the start of their ratification in all states of the alliance.

To date, only Turkey and Hungary have not ratified the agreement on membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO.

Budapest has already included this issue on the agenda of the first session of the country's parliament in 2023.

In September, Helsinki announced the formation of a coordinating group for the membership of the Finnish side in the bloc.

This structure is designed to control the preparations for the entry of the state into the alliance.

We are talking, in particular, about the role of the new group as a coordinator between ministries, which ensures the exchange of information among the branches of government.

In addition, the Finnish side intends to continue “active training and exercises” with partner countries until the end of the year, which will involve the ground forces, navy, air force and special forces.

“Some of the events planned for the end of the year will take place for a long time,” the Finnish government said in a press release.

The report also states that Finland's accession to NATO will allegedly increase "stability and security" in the country, as well as in the Baltic Sea region and in Northern Europe.

After that, information began to appear in the media about the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons on Finnish territory, but Helsinki said that they did not seek to host such weapons.

“We understand that NATO is an alliance that has nuclear weapons, but it is under the control of the United States, which does not seek to distribute it to other countries ... We do not ask for nuclear weapons, and no one offers them to us,” he quotes the words Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto TASS.

According to the head of the country's Foreign Ministry, it is now "premature to draw conclusions about how the training activities of the Finnish army and its participation in international operations will develop after the country joins NATO."

However, according to him, Finland will be more actively involved in international initiatives after joining the bloc.

"We need to increase defense spending"

According to Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, Helsinki wants to put pressure on those countries that have not yet ratified the accession document by submitting a bill on the country's accession to NATO to the Finnish Parliament.

“The bureaucratic process has already been launched, it is designed to influence primarily Turkey, which is not yet ready to start the ratification process and give its final consent,” the expert said in an interview with RT.

As Lidia Sidorova, associate professor of the Department of Political Science and Political Philosophy at the Diplomatic Academy, said, the bill contains an overview of the necessary adjustments to national legislation so that Finland can “integrate as much as possible into the work of NATO structures.”

Sidorova also noted that the bill does not require the approval of the Åland Provincial Assembly to pass the law.

“That is, they are not going to ask the Alands about anything.

The Aland Islands, according to international treaties, have the status of a demilitarized zone.

The Russian Foreign Ministry raised this issue back in the spring.

And it still remains open, ”the expert stated in a RT comment.

At the same time, according to Danyuk, joining the bloc will have enormous negative consequences for the Finnish economy, as well as for its human resources.

In addition, the costs will be not only economic, but also social, socio-political.

• NATO Headquarters

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Halil Sagirkaya

“Finland has yet to experience all this.

Having joined NATO, a country automatically becomes a potential adversary of Russia... Based on this, the Finnish side will have to significantly increase defense spending, and hence the burden on its economy.

In addition, Helsinki will need to do a lot of work with a society that is used to perceiving their country as a neutral state,” the analyst believes.

According to Danyuk, in this context, it is important for the Finnish Foreign Ministry in the draft law, first of all, to “beat history” with the use of armed forces within the framework of the Fifth Article of the North Atlantic Treaty.

“Such an emphasis in the draft law and the agency's press release was made just to reassure the Finnish people, who are ambivalent about the country's accession to NATO.

The Foreign Ministry wants to emphasize that in the event of any difficult military-political situation, the fifth paragraph of the Charter of the bloc will automatically apply to Finland, which supposedly will immediately receive a security umbrella, ”the expert noted.

However, the theses about providing security guarantees do not stand up to scrutiny, Danyuk believes.

“In fact, a situation will arise when Finland will sacrifice its sovereignty, economy, socio-political stability, neutral status and, at the same time, will get even more problems.

In particular, the obligations that the country must fulfill as a member of NATO, the main of which is opposition to Russia.

And neither Finland nor Sweden, which is following the same path, will receive the very promised security, ”the analyst said.

As Sidorova notes, Finnish left-wing politicians and representatives of regional parties were not heard by Helsinki, despite the fact that sound thoughts were said about turning Finland into an outpost of a possible conflict with Russia after joining NATO.

“These politicians emphasized that by joining the bloc, the Finnish side puts itself at risk along the entire length of the common borders with the Russian Federation.

At the expense of the bill, Helsinki is trying to justify the need to join NATO and ensure that there are no protests against this decision, ”the expert concluded.