According to Petteri Orpo, Chairman of the Coalition Party, Finland must apply for NATO membership as soon as possible and preferably submit its application within a few weeks so that the application can be considered at the NATO summit in Madrid in June.
Finland must apply for NATO membership as soon as possible, and submit its application within a few weeks so that Finland’s application can be considered no later than at the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June, Chairman of the Coalition Party Petteri Orpo estimates.
According to the Coalition Party’s chairman Petteri Orpo, NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s national defense and security policy position and offer Finland better opportunities to influence global security issues as part of the alliance.
– As a NATO country, Finland would in practice end up doing the same things in many ways as we are already doing in our foreign policy, but only more closely with our partners, the Coalition’s press release states.
The Coalition Party and Orpo see NATO membership primarily as “the harmonization of Finland’s defense with NATO as part of securing Northern Europe”. According to the party of ability, the greatest added value of NATO membership for Finland would be the support of the military alliance in a crisis situation.
– At NATO, we would be covered by regional defense plans, according to which other member states would prepare to support Finland and we would prepare to help others, Orpo states in the press release.
Although Finland’s possible accession to NATO would lead to the longest NATO border with Russia on the eastern border, this is not a threat, according to the Coalition Party, because NATO countries would defend each of their member countries together.
In particular, Orpo sees the NATO nuclear deterrent as a significant factor in improving Finland’s security, as a nuclear deterrent would raise the threshold for military pressure on Finland.
According to Orpo, joining NATO is not a significant change in the current security policy, as Finland has been cooperating closely with NATO and its member states for more than two decades, also in a time that extends to times of crisis.
– In practice, as a member of NATO, we would only do better and more efficiently everything we are already doing, he estimates.
Orpo concludes the Coalition’s press release by saying that NATO membership would mean the most sufficient security and greater responsibility and influence for Finland in building international security and promoting a democratic value base in the world.
– The Nato solution is thus one of the most significant decisions of our time and thus common to the Finns, Orpoo concludes in his press release.