With the turn to the right sanctioned by Sunday’s elections archived – with the victory of the conservatives of the National Coalition over the (populist) Party of Finns – it is already time for Finland to celebrate the historic entry into NATO.
During a ceremony at the headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance in Brussels which was also attended by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, the flag of Helsinki was hoisted, sealing the formal entry of the Nordic country, the 31st member of NATO. “It will be a good day for the security of Finland, of Northern Europe and for NATO as a whole”, the secretary general of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, had already declared on the eve. “Putin undertook the war against Ukraine with the clear objective of having less NATO – he added – and he is achieving exactly the opposite”.
Indeed, Finland and Sweden formally applied for membership last spring, just after the Russian invasion. However, Stockholm’s progress has suffered a hitherto unsurpassed stop due to Turkey’s no, which accuses Sweden of not doing enough against real or presumed terrorism of Kurdish origin, as well as of not having banned outrageous actions against Islam like the burning of the Koran by a far-right extremist last January in Stockholm. But Swedish entry has yet to be ratified by Hungary as well.
Instead, the go-ahead for Finland arrived last week and NATO then forged ahead with the final steps.
Moscow immediately reacted aggressively, at least in words, as was perhaps to be expected. “We will strengthen our military potential in the West and Northwest – Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Monday -. In the event that the forces and assets of other NATO members are deployed to Finland, we will take additional measures to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.”