Sweden and Finland into NATO by mid-July
According to the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, the two Scandinavian countries should become members of the Atlantic Pact by mid-July. "Work is underway to resolve this issue," Stoltenberg said at a Munich Security Conference, broadcast on his website. "I continue to work actively to ensure they become members before the Vilnius summit," he said.
It was previously reported that the NATO leaders' summit would be held in the Lithuanian capital from July 11 to 12, 2023. Stoltenberg recalled that at the moment the ratification of the documents necessary for Sweden and Finland to join NATO has passed in 28 of the 30 member countries of the alliance. "Turkey and Hungary are missing ... I ask all members to complete the ratification," he said.
The new security policy report is expected to launch discussions in the Finnish Parliament on whether to pursue membership of the alliance, which according to Prime Minister Sanna Marin could end "before mid-summer". If there is a clear majority in favor of NATO membership, the government and the president of the republic will decide on a potential application. “All indications are that the Finnish government will decide to apply for NATO membership. Nobody wants to talk about specific dates, but if I say it will happen within the next couple of months, I don't think I'm wrong,” Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Policy in Helsinki, told Swedish news agency TT.
Within the Finnish Social Democrats, the debate is expected to take place in early May, after which an extraordinary meeting of the party council will decide whether to support the application for membership. Finland's foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg this week, said it was "important" for neighboring Sweden to follow a "similar process. Obviously, we exchange information all the time and, if we are going to make similar decisions, it is hoped that we will be able to make them at the same time”.
