Finland will formalize its candidacy for NATO, decisive meeting in Sweden
Finland must formalize its candidacy for NATO this Sunday, before a decisive meeting of the ruling party in Sweden with a view to a probable joint application for membership of the two countries.
“We hope to be able to send our applications this week, together with Sweden. They have their own process but hopefully we will make the decisions at the same time.”Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Saturday.
Less than three months after the start of the war in Ukraine, the two countries are preparing to turn the page on military non-alignments dating back more than 75 years in Finland and dating back to the 19th century in Sweden.
After breaking with their neutrality in the 1990s with the end of the Cold War, by becoming partners of NATO and members of the European Union, the two Nordic countries would thus tie up a little more with the Western blocs.
A shift that has taken place gradually since the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24, accelerated by a pro-NATO outbreak in public opinion in both countries.
With Finland first to take the initiative, and Sweden anxious not to end up as the only country around the Baltic Sea not to be a member of the alliance.