Finland and Sweden are pressing to join NATO. The invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the moves of the Nordic countries, worried about the escalation of tension with neighboring Russia.
Thus the premieres of the two countries announced in a joint press conference that joining the Atlantic Alliance is getting closer and more probable.
In response, Moscow has sent men and military vehicles to the border with Finland. A warning? What is certain is that the words of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin have fueled the tension, who announced that Helsinki - a border of almost 1,300 kilometers shared with Moscow - will decide "within a few weeks" whether to apply for entry into NATO.
The Swedish colleague Magdalena Andersson underlined that as far as Stockholm is concerned, “there are topics to be analyzed very carefully. All the pros and cons must be weighed. At the same time, I see no reason to postpone the decision. We will have the elections in September and we must also be able to focus on this ”.
The Helsinki government stresses that "Finland does not enjoy security guarantees without membership of NATO, despite being a partner of the Alliance". The crux, it is underlined, is in the famous article 5 which obliges member countries to intervene in the event of aggression, a defense umbrella that only members of the organization benefit from. Accession, therefore, would provide a "significantly greater" deterrence against a possible attack.
A NATO summit is scheduled for June 29 and 30 in Madrid and most analysts expect the announcement of a Finnish candidacy there. Support for membership, which had hovered around 20-25% in Finland for decades, has almost tripled, to over 60 or even 70%. A clear majority is also emerging in Parliament. Of the MPs who have already made their position known, around 100 out of 200 are in favor and only 12 are against, according to Finnish media.
As for Stockholm, according to the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, the goal is to join NATO in June of this year, in conjunction with the Madrid summit. Moscow had already warned Stockholm and Helsinki, warning that the accession would have "political and military consequences".
(Unioneonline / L)
