Finland’s parliament has decided the country will proceed with plans for joining NATO alone, dropping the government’s previous stance to join “hand in hand” with Sweden.
On Wednesday, March 1st, Finnish MPs voted overwhelmingly to approve the NATO treaties and accession in parliament, with 184 MPs in favour and only 7 against. This ratification of the treaties now places Finland one step ahead of Sweden, and it needs only now to wait for ratification by Hungary and Turkey.
While not totally unexpected, fears remain over Finland’s vulnerability against Russia if it joins NATO on its own. “In case of a conflict with Russia … NATO would need Swedish territory to help Finland defend itself” Reuters reported when the motion was first discussed in Helsinki in early February. A former prime minister of Finland, Paavo Lipponen, echoed this position when he said in an opinion piece that “without Sweden, Finland would end up in a vulnerable situation.”
Debates in Finland over whether the country should join alone began as Sweden’s bid stalled due to Turkish opposition. President Erdoğan’s demand that Sweden ban Quran burnings will likely contravene Sweden’s constitutional right to freedom of speech, thus leaving Stockholm’s accession bid deadlocked for the time being. Since Turkey signalled it would have no problem ratifying Finland’s application to join the alliance, this put Finland’s solidarity with Sweden into serious question.
Finland has many incentives to join NATO. It shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia and has been invaded by them many times before. According to a poll by the news outlet Ilta-Sanomat, 53% of Finns support joining NATO without Sweden. More urgently this was parliament’s last chance to ratify the alliance treaties before going into recess on March 3rd, pending elections on April 2nd.
NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, says he aims to have both of the Nordic neighbours in the alliance in time for its July summit.
