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Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland, at 10 Downing Street, the seat of the British government, on March 15, 2022
Photo: Matt Dunham / dpa
Finland's President Sauli Niinistö no longer sees the need for a referendum or an official opinion poll for his country to join NATO.
It is already clear that the majority of the population supports the country joining the defense alliance, said Niinistö in an interview with the public broadcaster Yle.
He had a different opinion on this until the end of last year, but that has now changed, according to the head of state of the Scandinavian country.
However, Niinistö emphasized that it is important that Finland coordinates with Sweden on this issue and that the two countries come to the same conclusion.
He has already consulted Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on several occasions and further talks are pending.
Niinistö himself has not yet taken a clear position on Finland's NATO membership.
According to the latest polls, however, up to 62 percent of Finns are now in favor of their country joining NATO.
A debate has also broken out in Sweden.
The government there is still against membership.
Finland and Sweden are not yet members of NATO, but they are close partners in the military alliance.
Finland borders Russia over a distance of 1300 kilometers and is therefore the EU country with the longest border to the giant empire.
jso/dpa
