The Finnish parliament voted for the adoption of a bill on the accession of the republic to NATO. The meeting was broadcast on the official website of the legislature.
Parliament needed a simple majority to pass the NATO membership bill. 184 deputies voted “for” and 7 parliamentarians “against”. For the final ratification of the bill, it must be approved by the President of the Republic, Sauli Niinistö.
The vote, which was supposed to take place on February 28, was postponed to Wednesday due to the proposal of Markus Mustajärvi, MP from the Union of Left Forces, to reject the bill and accept statements that Finland will not allow the deployment of nuclear weapons, as well as the creation of NATO bases or the deployment of military contingent of other countries on its territory. Mustajärvi’s initiatives were put to the vote and rejected by the majority of parliamentarians.
On December 5, 2022, the Finnish government sent a bill on NATO membership to the country’s parliament, its first discussion took place on December 13. In May 2022, Finland and Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance, but Ankara blocked the process of their entry, demanding that they declare Kurdish organizations terrorist and extradite persons accused of terrorism or participation in a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Relations between Turkey and Sweden escalated after the burning of the Koran at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that after the anti-Turkish actions in Stockholm, Sweden should not expect Ankara to support its application to join NATO. Similar statements were made by the heads of the Turkish Foreign and Defense Ministry. At the moment, the process related to the ratification of the Swedish application is suspended.
Source: Rosbalt
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