North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is set to move closer to the Russian border as another European country, Finland, is set to become a member of the alliance on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that Finland will become a full member of the alliance on April 4. His remarks came after the Turkish Parliament on March 30 voted in favour of Finland’s application to join NATO.
Speaking in a press conference on Monday, Stoltenberg said, “This is an historic week. Tomorrow, we will welcome Finland as the thirty-first member of NATO. Making Finland safer and our Alliance stronger.”
He further said, “We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at the NATO headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole,” according to the statement released on NATO’s website. He added, “Sweden will also be safer as a result.”
NATO invited Finland, Sweden to become member in 2022
Jens Stoltenberg said that allies in 2022 made a decision to invite Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO and noted that Finland’s accession has been the fastest ratification process in NATO’s modern history.
On Friday, he welcomed Turkey’s decision to ratify Finland’s membership in NATO. He said that Finland’s inclusion will make the country “safer” and NATO “stronger.”
Stoltenberg said, “I welcome the vote by the Turkish Grand National Assembly to ratify Finland’s membership in NATO. All 30 NATO Allies have now ratified the accession protocol. And I have just spoken with President Sauli Niinisto to congratulate him on this historic occasion.”
On Thursday, the Turkish Parliament on Thursday voted unanimously in favour of Finland’s application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while also continuing to block Sweden from joining the military alliance, CNN reported.
The vote in the Parliament fulfils Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “promise” to allow Finland to become part of the military alliance, as per the news report. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland’s accession. Following the vote, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said his country is “ready to join NATO.”
In 2022, Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join NATO. A majority of NATO members welcomed the applications of Finland and Sweden except for Turkey and Hungary.
Turkish President Erdogan accused Finland and Sweden of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations.” Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Finland and Sweden were disseminating “outright lies” about his country’s rule of law record, as per the CNN report.
Later, the two nations softened their stance on Finland’s accession. However, Hungary and Turkey continue to remain opposed to Sweden becoming part of NATO.
How country becomes alliance member?
NATO which is currently an alliance of 28 European and two North American countries is an intergovernmental military alliance which was established after World War II.
The alliance which follows a collective security system defends each and every member in case of attacks by third parties.
Currently, following 30 members form the alliance
- Albania
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
Once Finland becomes an alliance member on Tuesday, the list will expand to 31. As the country shares one of the longest borders with Russia, NATO will reach close to the Russian border.
Joining the alliance is by consensus i.e., a new country can join NATO only if all its member countries agree to it.
With inputs from agencies
