Finland will become NATO's 31st member tomorrow. It will do so after the "fastest" ratification process in the Alliance's modern history, according to the organization's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. But it will do so without Sweden, whose ratification is still pending from Türkiye.
The war in the Ukraine was a tectonic shift. On a social, economic, geopolitical level. Also for the two Nordic countries, Sweden and Finland, which in May 2022 requested to join the Alliance, an unprecedented step in two historically neutral countries. "Tomorrow will be a historic day (...), we will welcome Finland as the thirty-first member of NATO, making Finland and our Alliance stronger," Stoltenberg said.
The NATO Secretary General has admitted that “although the process has taken a few weeks longer than expected” it is still the fastest process in history and he is confident that Sweden will soon follow suit.
At a ceremony to be held tomorrow at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, the blue and white flag of Finland will now fly. With the incorporation of the Nordic country, —which shares a border of 1,340 kilometers with Russia, more than double the current one— the organization adds a member that until before the war in Ukraine seemed almost impossible.
The 30 allies have approved Finland's accession since last June, at the Madrid summit, the country was invited along with Sweden to become members. Despite the fact that twenty-eight countries had given the green light to the incorporation of both in recent months, Hungary and Turkey have only given their final approval to Finland, just a few days ago.
Tomorrow Turkey will deliver its letter of acceptance to Washington, which is the custodian of the founding treaty of the organization. After that, the US Department of State will notify that all requirements have been met, and then Finland will present its acceptance document to the US. This will ratify their full adherence. After that, a flag-raising ceremony will be held at the headquarters in Brussels. Just the same day the Washington Treaty was signed, April 4, 1949, when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created.
“For the first time we will raise the Finnish flag, here at the NATO headquarters. It will be a great day for the security of Finland, for the Nordic security and for the NATO team”, Stoltenberg assured. "Finland will contribute to the Alliance a substantial number of well-trained, well-equipped military forces", defended the Secretary General, while praising the country's military investment and the fact that it has been "one of the few countries in Europe that it did not reduce investment in defense after the Cold War”.
But the historic day and the party will be a bit more overshadowed because Sweden is still waiting for its entry, when it was originally expected that both countries, since they carried out the petition jointly, would also enter together. "I am sure that Sweden will become a member, it is a priority for me that it can happen as soon as possible," Stoltenberg said.
Sweden, like Finland so far, have a status in which both countries are protected in the event of an attack and participate in the activities of the organization and its military structures. "Sweden is not left to its own devices," argued the Norwegian politician.
However, Turkey still has "serious and legitimate concerns" about Sweden, since according to Ankara, the country has not yet fulfilled all its commitments when they signed the agreement with Finland last June on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid. . The government of Recep Tayip Erdogan maintains that Stockholm protects and shelters members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on its soil, and that the EU (including Finland) considers it a terrorist organization. Stoltenberg is trying to get both sides to negotiate and move forward for Sweden to become the next member as soon as possible, hoping that by the Vilnius summit the process will be closed.
