Finland has officially decided to apply to NATO
Finland made a formal decision on Sunday to apply for NATO membership.
The decision was made at a joint meeting of the President and the Government Committee on Foreign and Security Policy. It will be debated in parliament on Monday, and the vote is expected to take place on Tuesday. The application will be submitted to NATO, according to media reports, on Wednesday, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.
On 12 May, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin issued a joint statement calling for the country's priority accession to NATO.
NATO membership was also supported by parliamentary committees on defense and foreign policy. Yle estimates that about 130 of the 200 members of parliament are in favor of joining NATO.
According to a recent opinion poll commissioned by the Yle broadcasting portal, 76% of Finns want to see Finland in NATO.
The application will first be considered by the NATO Council, after which negotiations with NATO will begin and the membership agreement will be ratified at the national level in all 30 Allies, which may take months.
Major NATO countries such as the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have pledged support for Finland during the application period. Finland will have to ask for help and specify what help will be needed. These can be military support, intelligence sharing, cyber defense and joint military exercises.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly stated that Finland and Sweden will be admitted to the alliance "with open arms" and promised to hold accession procedures as soon as possible.
NATO enlargement at the expense of Finland and Sweden will increase the length of Russia's borders with the bloc by more than 1.2 thousand km.
