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Finland officially joined NATO, the military alliance that includes the United States and most European countries, on Tuesday at a ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, at the organization’s headquarters. Finland is therefore from today the 31st member country of NATO (the last country to join was North Macedonia in 2020).
Finland’s accession ceremony took place in Brussels on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member countries. Representing Finland were President Sauli Niinisto and two members of the outgoing government (elections took place in Finland on Sunday, which will lead to a change of majority): Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen. Finland’s official entry into NATO was sanctioned by a formal passage, foreseen by the rules of the alliance, which took place shortly before the ceremony: the signing of an acceptance document by representatives of the Finnish government and delivery to the Secretary of State of the United States, the main member country of the alliance.
Finland’s accession to NATO is a historic moment, given that for over seventy years the country had chosen not to join the alliance, preferring to maintain a neutral position between the Western bloc and that of the Soviet Union (even for purely geographic regions, as it shares a large border with Russia). However, the Finnish government changed its mind last year after Russia invaded Ukraine.
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Finland had applied to join NATO last May together with Sweden, but the latter’s accession is delayed by the Turkish government’s dissent. Instead, Finland’s entry had been certain for a week, that is, since Hungary and Turkey had voted in favor of the country’s membership. For a new country to join NATO, the parliaments of all member countries need to give their approval, but lengthy negotiations have been necessary to obtain the assent of Turkey and Hungary.
In recent months Turkey in particular had opposed the approval of the joint entry of Finland and Sweden, accusing the respective governments of supporting and welcoming members of some Kurdish organizations, in particular the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Hungary, on the other hand, accused Finland and Sweden of spreading “total lies” about the state of democracy in the country, referring to the criticisms received for the lack of respect for the rule of law in the country (i.e. respect for the fundamental rights of the population and an independent judiciary and impartial, all elements highly at risk in Hungary).
In both cases, however, the polemical target of the Turkish and Hungarian governments was above all Sweden. For this reason, after rather long negotiations and some hesitations, it was finally decided that Finland would be allowed to join NATO immediately, while negotiations would continue for Sweden.
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