Illustrative photo – From the left, Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marinová and Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
Helsinki – In the afternoon, the Finnish Parliament started a debate on the draft law on the country's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance. The final vote is expected on Wednesday, AFP and DPA said today.
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Members of parliament are expected to approve the bill, as the majority of members of the unicameral Finnish parliament have previously spoken in favor of joining the alliance. The DPA agency, citing the speaker of the parliament, wrote that the vote is expected on Wednesday at 13:00 CET.
Finland's goal is to complete the legislative process by the end of Prime Minister Sanna Marin's term. Parliamentary elections are planned in the country for April 2, and Helsinki wants to avoid a possible political vacuum, the AFP agency writes.
The admission of Finland and Sweden, which are also applying for NATO membership, has already been approved by 28 member countries. and so only ratification by Hungary and Turkey remains. While this should not be a problem in the case of Budapest, Ankara has reservations about Sweden in particular, criticizing Stockholm for what it says is a haven for Kurdish radicals and does not prevent opponents of Islam from making anti-Muslim speeches in public.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said today that Hungary intends to send a parliamentary delegation to Finland around March 9 to discuss Finland's application for NATO membership.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu said on Monday that talks with Sweden and Finland their accession will continue on March 9. At the same time, he noted that Ankara still cannot agree to Sweden's request.
Turkey states that it is willing to deal with Finland's request separately. But the Nordic countries have already said that they prefer to join the alliance together.
