Finland and Sweden will jointly file their NATO candidacies on Wednesday, the two Nordic countries announced, despite the lingering shadow of a blockage by Turkey. With the green light by an overwhelming majority of more than 95% from the Finnish Parliament, everything is now in place for the simultaneous arrival of membership applications from both countries at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. This will take place on Wednesday, announced Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, on a state visit to Stockholm.
“I am happy that we have taken the same path and that we can do it together,” said the Swedish Prime Minister. The Nordic duo will travel to Washington on Thursday to meet US President Joe Biden, the White House announced. While Vladimir Putin seemed to put the mute on Monday on Russian threats of retaliation for a Swedish-Finnish membership, the main obstacle now seems to come from within the alliance.
Turkey reaffirms its hostility
Turkey, whose ratification is imperative like that of the 30 other members of NATO, reaffirmed Monday its hostility to the entry of Sweden and Finland, despite diplomatic discussions during the weekend. Ankara “will not give in”, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing Sweden of being “the nursery of terrorist organizations” and accusing him of having taken sanctions against his country.
Analysts believe that Turkey is certainly looking for counterparties in exchange for their green light, for example the lifting of the refusal of the United States to sell them F-35s, the powerful American fighter plane. Ankara criticizes Sweden and Finland in particular for not approving its requests for the extradition of people it accuses of being members of “terrorist organizations” such as the Kurdish PKK, or of having frozen arms exports. to Turkey.
The Finnish president “optimistic” to convince Ankara
Despite these quarrels, the Finnish president said he was “optimistic” about obtaining the support of Turkey, “with the help of constructive discussions”. “Sweden is delighted to work with Turkey in NATO and this cooperation can be an element of our bilateral relationship,” said Ms. Andersson, assuring that Stockholm “is committed to the fight against all forms of terrorism”. The candidacies of Finland and Sweden, a direct consequence of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, continued to take steps on Tuesday.
At the end of a two-day parliamentary session, the accession project was adopted by the Finnish Parliament by 188 votes in favour, eight against and no abstentions. “It’s an exceptional result, I didn’t expect it to be so clear. The vote is clear, no more discussion,” greeted Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, before going to sign the application form of his country.
A page of decades of military neutrality that turns
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed Sweden’s application form on Tuesday morning during a ceremony. After a spectacular jump in favor of membership in public opinion, Sweden and Finland have deemed it necessary to place themselves under the umbrella of NATO in the face of a Russia capable of militarily invading one of its neighbors. . The two countries would thus turn the page on decades of neutrality and then of military non-alignment.
Faced with the risk of Russian reprisals, Sweden and Finland have sought security assurances from their Nordic neighbors and the major NATO powers in recent weeks. Only the members of the alliance benefit from the famous article 5 of mutual protection, not the candidates. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured Tuesday that his country would “intensify” its military cooperation with the two Nordic nations. Joining NATO, which requires parliamentary ratification by the 30 members of the alliance, generally takes several months. Sweden said it expects the process to take a year at most.