Until recently, it was believed that the Madrid meeting would be a milestone in the path of Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership. We found out what can be expected from the summit when Turkey takes over the brakes.
NATO will hold a summit in Madrid, Spain, this week, but Finland’s membership is not yet celebrated. Continued until Thursday in a meeting (you move to another service) the leaders of NATO member countries and key partner countries are present.
The President of the Republic, among others, travels from Finland to Madrid Sauli Niinistö and the Secretary of State Pekka Haavisto (green).
We are looking for answers to what can be expected from the NATO meeting.
What will be decided at the summit?
Topics include China’s growing influence and the consequences of climate change for the security situation.
According to NATO, the meeting will also consider guidelines for action in the coming years in a world where “authoritarian powers are testing the limits of an international order based on respect for common rules.”
At the meeting, the leaders are expected to approve a joint assessment of the security environment and the goals and tasks of the military alliance.
Will Finland’s NATO membership be confirmed at the meeting?
– If normal progress had been made without the Turkish mess, the application would very likely have already been processed or at least had already come a long way, says Doctor of Political Science Iro Särkkä From the University of Helsinki to by phone.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip ErdoğanSecretary General of NATO Jens StoltenbergPrime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson and President Niinistö will hold another talks in Madrid today, Tuesday, before the start of the NATO meeting. The meeting was reported on Twitter on Monday.
What can Finland expect from the summit?
An opportunity for a surprise turn has been built under the summit when Niinistö and Anderson still meet Erdoğan in Turkey.
– I don’t know if any surprises will happen. The debate shows that at least we are trying to the last. Negotiations have progressed, the direction is good, but no breakthrough has been achieved, says Särkkä.
The talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey are hardly enough to achieve a breakthrough.
– The solution will emerge when the United States joins the debate, Särkkä estimates.
Can Finland break free from Sweden to become a member?
Finland and Sweden have made progress on their NATO path, and it is unlikely that the two will resign to advance the membership process.
Professor Henrik Meinander The University of Helsinki estimates that it is still very important for Finland that Sweden also joins NATO. This is best ensured when the countries’ applications are processed jointly.
– The opening of the node in NATO may continue, but the most difficult phase of the process, the bending of the Swedish demarches to apply for membership, has already passed. Now it is clear in both countries to wait for a diplomatic solution, Meinander says.
Does the meeting address Baltic security concerns?
Experts at the time estimated that Kallas’ goal is to get more troops from NATO at the Madrid summit.
Professor at the National Defense College Tommi Koivula In the past, he said that the Madrid meeting was likely to strengthen the Defense League ‘s presence in the Baltics, but that all the hopes of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would hardly be fulfilled.
He recalls that supporting Ukraine will take enormous resources from NATO for a long time to come.