Finnish President signs laws on country’s accession to NATO

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö signed the laws on the republic’s accession to NATO. This was reported on the website of the Finnish government.

“On March 23, the President of the Republic, Sauli Niinistö, decided on Finland’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” the statement said.

March 1 laws approved Parliament of Finland. Now the republic’s entry into the alliance must be ratified by all NATO member countries, then Finland will be invited to join NATO by the Secretary General of the organization. The country’s government noted that Finland intends to join NATO at the same time as Sweden “as soon as possible.”

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership simultaneously on May 18, 2022. To date, 28 out of 30 states have ratified the country’s accession to NATO. The alliance is still awaiting approval from Turkey and Hungary.

March 17, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informedthat the country is ready to vote in parliament on its ratification before the general elections in the country on May 14, 2023. At the same time, the Turkish leader added, Ankara is not going to vote for joining the Swedish alliance. Stockholm, according to the Turkish authorities, has not complied with the requirements to extradite supporters and members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, recognized as terrorist in Turkey) and limit support for pro-Kurdish formations in Syria.

Also, a new round of tension in relations between Sweden and Turkey was caused by several actions with the burning of the Koran. After Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21, Erdogan declaredthat Sweden should no longer wait for support for its application to join NATO.

Finland admitted that the country could join the alliance without Sweden, but then stressed that Helsinki’s position on joining together with its neighbor had not changed. In March, Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision to ratify the country’s NATO membership before the elections, noting that “Finland’s NATO bid is not complete without Sweden.”