NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praises the Turkish Parliament’s decision. Former Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde hopes that the ratification of Sweden’s membership will also progress.
As expected, the Turkish parliament approved Finland’s NATO membership late Thursday evening.
276 MPs voted for Finland’s membership. No one voted against. Representatives of the pro-Kurdish HDP party abstained from voting.
Now the parliaments of all 30 NATO member countries have ratified Finland’s membership. Hungary ratified it on Monday.
In Turkey, the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ratification is yet to be confirmed. It is possible that the process will take another three weeks.
President Sauli Niinistö has estimated that Finland will join NATO in May.
In this story, read the answers to ten questions about what is known about Finland’s NATO membership.
Sweden’s ex-foreign minister: Time to ratify Sweden too
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg rejoiced on Thursday evening at the acceptance of Finland’s NATO membership.
– This makes the entire NATO family stronger and safer, Stoltenberg wrote briefly on the messaging service Twitter.
President Niinistö thanked each NATO member country for their trust and support.
– Finland is now ready to join NATO. We expect to have Sweden join us as a member as soon as possible, Niinistö wrote.
Prime minister Sanna Marin (sd.) thanked other countries for their support during the process and also hoped that Sweden’s membership would progress.
The former foreign minister of Sweden hoped for the same Ann Linde on Twitter. Linde thanked the decision of the Turkish parliament, but also urged the confirmation of Sweden’s membership.
– Now is the time to recognize that Sweden has fulfilled its part of the memorandum of understanding, Linde tweeted.
Linde refers to the memorandum signed by Sweden, Finland and Turkey at the NATO summit in Madrid last summer. Linde was Sweden’s foreign minister at the time.
Sweden’s current foreign minister Tobias Billström says the ratification by the Turkish parliament is an important step.
– The security of both Finland and Sweden will be increased by the fact that they will now become members of NATO, Billström writes on the messaging service Twitter.
Haavisto: We are living in historic days
We are living in historic days, sums up the foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green)
– NATO membership was applied for on May 17, 2022. The first ratifications were received from Canada and Denmark. Hungary is due to deposit its own ratification in Washington tomorrow. Now the Turkish parliament has made its decision, Haavisto tweets.
Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas congratulates Finland in Finnish.
– Dear Finland, welcome to NATO! The security of our region requires our cooperation and cooperation, Kallas writes on Twitter.