The Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament) approved this Wednesday by a large majority the entry of the Nordic country into the NATOa historic decision that ends decades of military neutrality with which Finland seeks to reinforce their security against the aggressiveness of the neighbor Russia.
The measure, approved by 184 votes in favor and 7 against, had the majority support of all the major parliamentary groups.
After this vote, it only remains for the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, to give his approval to the entry and for Hungary and Turkey to ratify it, the only two NATO member countries that have not yet done so.
Due to the lengths of the Hungarian government and the reluctance of Ankara, the Finnish Executive decided to hold the parliamentary vote without waiting for the approval of both countries to buy time and close the matter before the legislative elections on April 2.
Hungary has on several occasions postponed the parliamentary processing of Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership application, although it is not opposed to it in principle.
Instead, Turkey has blocked the ratification process until the two Nordic nations meet a series of conditions contained in the tripartite agreement signed in Madrid last June.
In that agreement, Helsinki and Stockholm agree to allow arms exports to Turkey, facilitate the extradition of suspected Kurdish terrorists, and go after terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Currently, Ankara admits that Finland has advanced enough to give the green light to its entry into NATO, but maintains the veto on Sweden, which it accuses of not having complied with the agreement.
The Turkish government suspended trilateral negotiations five weeks ago after Stockholm allowed the holding of pro-Kurdish demonstrations and the burning of a copy of the Koran on its territory.
Talks between the three countries are scheduled to resume next week at a meeting to be held in Brussels, under the auspices of NATO.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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