France fully supports Finland’s desire to join NATO, to which Moscow threatens to respond with “military-technical” measures, the Elysee Palace announced on Thursday. “The President of the Republic has indicated that France fully supports Finland’s sovereign choice to quickly join NATO”, indicated the Elysée after an exchange between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö.
The President and Prime Minister of Finland said they were in favor of joining NATO “without delay” on Thursday, a huge step towards a candidacy to be formalized on Sunday. Moscow reacted by saying that joining the Nordic country to the Western military alliance would “certainly” constitute a threat against Russia, referring to the taking of “military-technical” measures. A direct consequence of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Finnish candidacy should go hand in hand with a Swedish application for membership, also expected in the coming days.
Joining NATO ‘would strengthen Finland’s security’, says Finnish president
“Being a member of NATO would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the alliance as a whole. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the Finnish leaders’ desire to join the Alliance, promising a “smooth” process that will take place “rapidly”.
A press conference of the Finnish executive tandem to formalize the “decisions concerning Finland’s security policy” is scheduled for Sunday, according to Helsinki. The official position of the two leaders marks the shift in the line of the Nordic country, which shares a border of 1,300 kilometers and a painful past with Russia.
76% of the population in favor
In the country of 5.5 million people, 76% of the population is now in favor of membership, according to a poll published on Monday, triple its pre-war level. “We were alone in 1939, we don’t want to be alone again,” Nick Paterson, a 56-year-old Finnish-British entrepreneur, told AFP. “It’s very important that the leaders of our country are on the same wavelength and I think it’s a good decision,” said Ville Laakso, a 31-year-old lawyer.
In Parliament, a very large majority of the 200 deputies is acquired with only a dozen declared opponents. The chamber will meet Monday morning to study the executive’s proposal, probably with a vote, said its president Matti Vanhanen on public television Yle.
Membership that would not be “against anyone”
“Joining NATO would not be against anyone,” the Finnish president assured Wednesday evening, in response to Russian warnings against Helsinki joining the alliance. For the Finnish president, long an advocate of East-West dialogue, Russia can only blame itself for seeing its neighbor join the alliance. “If we joined (to NATO), my answer (to Russia) would be: ‘You are the one who caused this, look in the mirror,'” Sauli Niinistö said.
“Vladimir Putin, one of the things he was saying was that he didn’t want a strong NATO on his western flank. That’s what he’s getting,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. an alliance “which is gaining in strength” and in “deterrence capacity”. Subjected to a form of forced neutrality by Moscow during the Cold War, the former Russian province (1809-1917), invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939, had joined the European Union and the Partnership for Peace of the NATO after the fall of the Soviet Union, but remained a non-member of the alliance.
Finland hopes Sweden will make ‘the same conclusion’
The formal decision on membership is to be taken by a Council on Security and Foreign Policy, bringing together the head of state, the prime minister and several ministers. “We must hope that Sweden, our close partner, will come to the same conclusion and that we can apply together,” said Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen.
On the Swedish side, a strategic review prepared by the government and the parties in Parliament will be made public on Friday, before an undoubtedly decisive meeting of the ruling Social Democratic Party on Sunday. Worried about the reaction of Russia, the two countries have already sought to obtain assurances of protection during the months necessary for their formal entry into the Atlantic Alliance, like an agreement signed Wednesday with London.
The two countries, members of the European Union, can also count on article 42.7 of mutual assistance of the European treaties, recalled Thursday the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto before the European Parliament. This period, which implies in particular a ratification by the Parliaments of each of the 30 current members of the Alliance, can take several months. In the US Senate, which is tasked with ratification with a required strong two-thirds majority, key lawmakers from Democrats and Republicans have pledged support for membership.