Erdogan finally gave the green light to the Finnish request on Friday. It was followed shortly by Budapest, which will decide on March 27. NATO welcomed this decision and pleaded for rapid membership.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday gave the green light to Finland’s entry into NATO, submitting to the Turkish parliament the ratification of Finland’s application for membership.
“We have decided to start the process of Finland joining NATO in our parliamenthe said after a meeting in Ankara with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. 28 of the 30 member states of the Alliance have already approved Finland’s candidacy.
Membership “as soon as possible”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hailed Turkey’s willingness to ratify Finland’s membership in the Alliance and called for Sweden’s membership to be ratified.as soon as possible“.
“The most important thing is that Finland and Sweden quickly become full members of NATO, not that they join at the same timehe explained in a statement released shortly after the Turkish president’s announcement.
Vote in the Hungarian Parliament on March 27
The Hungarian Parliament will vote on Finland’s membership on March 27, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs announced, just after the Turkish announcement. The ruling Fidesz partysupports Finland’s accession to NATO. The parliamentary vote will take place on March 27“, he writes, quoting the leader of the parliamentary group Mate Kocsis, without mentioning Sweden. The case of Sweden will be decided “later“, said the latter, according to comments quoted by the MTI news agency.
Zoltan Kovacs insists that Parliament is “sovereign” And “will not give in to pressure from liberal NGOs» calling for the ratification of the accession of the two countries as soon as possible. To justify the multiple postponements of the vote, Fidesz invoked on Tuesday “the delay in negotiations with Brusselsto release the billions of euros in funds frozen pending reforms to better fight corruption. One of the concerns on the Swedish side is that Hungary is using membership of the Atlantic Alliance as a bargaining chip in its battle with the European Union.
Sweden still pending
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström regretted that his country was still waiting for the green light from Turkey, saying however that Sweden was “preparedthat Finland gets it before her. The burning of a Koran by an extremist in the Swedish capital in January led to the suspension of talks between Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm. On Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that the likelihood of his neighbor joining NATO before Sweden had “increase” lately. Ulf Kristersson, however, remains hopeful of completing his country’s entry into the Alliance before the next NATO summit scheduled for July in Vilnius, Lithuania.
For their part, the United Statesgreet» the ratification announced by Turkey but «encourage him“to also be ratified”quicklythat of Sweden, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday. Moreover, Washingtoncalls on Hungary to complete its ratification procedure for Sweden and Finland without delay“, a statement said, adding: “the United States considers that these two countries must become members of NATO as soon as possible.»
Finland and Sweden applied for the Atlantic alliance in May 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two countries have decided to turn the page on their policy of military non-alignment in force since the 1990s, itself inherited from decades of forced or chosen neutrality. Hungary is the only member of NATO with Turkey not to have yet ratified their entry. The opposition has accused the government of delaying ratification, while nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban is keen to maintain ties with Moscow.