Overcome the setbacks, Finland will finally become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (BORN). The head of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed this on Monday, which means that the Finnish flag will be hoisted at the headquarters of the bloc in Brussels.
“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will welcome Finland as the 31st member,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference on the eve of a ministerial meeting marking the Nordic country’s accession to the transatlantic alliance.
Finland’s accession process, noted the Norwegian official, was “the fastest in modern NATO history”.
The move, which is to be completed on Tuesday, “will make Finland safer and NATO stronger”.
The formal steps that will be taken on Tuesday
Finland’s representative is expected to formally hand over accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. whose office is the custodian of the founding treaty of the military alliance.
Last year, in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance, but Sweden’s bid is vetoed by Turkey, although the position is contested in intense talks.
This Monday, the huge platform where the flags of the 30 member countries of the alliance are hoisted tree already exposed which is expected to receive that of Finland at the ceremony on Tuesday.
In his press conference, Stoltenberg assured that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the invasion of Ukraine “with the clear goal of having less NATO“.
“But you’ll get exactly the opposite in return,” he completed.
The opposition of Hungary and Türkiye which slowed down the process
The entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO has been delayed by the opposition of Hungary Turkey. Budapest has repeatedly postponed the parliamentary process of both countries’ applications for membership, although in principle it does not oppose it.
Instead Turkey had blocked the ratification process up to the two Nordic nations meet a number of conditions foreseen by the tripartite agreement signed in Madrid last June.
In this agreement, Helsinki and Stockholm agree to allow the export of arms to Turkey, facilitating the extradition of suspected Kurdish terrorists and go after terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey has announced it will support Finland’s entry after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto met with Turkish President Recep Erdogan in Ankara, 10 months after the Scandinavian country applied for membership.
“When it comes to meeting their commitments in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen it Finland has taken real and concrete steps‘ Erdogan said at a press conference in Ankara after his meeting with Niinisto.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden have decided to turn the page on their military non-alignment policy in force since the 1990s, heir to decades of neutrality, and applied to NATO in May 2022.
Source: AP and AFP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.