Finland's NATO accession: government is now serious, Putin sees "mistakes" - does Erdogan block at the last minute?
Created: 05/14/2022Updated: 05/14/2022, 19:55
By: Christina Denk
Finland and Sweden want to join NATO in the face of the Ukraine war.
Russia and Turkey react critically.
Erdogan could still overturn accession.
News ticker.
Escalated Ukraine conflict
: Finland and Sweden want to join NATO in view of the threat from Russia.
Final vote
on Sunday: Finland wants to submit the application to NATO as early as next week
Turkey
's
reservations
: Erdogan is critical of the accession due to his own security concerns.
This
news ticker on the expected NATO accession of Finland and Sweden
is constantly updated.
Helsinki - Finland's possible NATO membership in view of the Ukraine war is getting closer.
On Saturday (May 14), the ruling Social Democrats voted in favor of accession by a large majority.
According to the party, 53 of the 60 members of the party leadership voted in favor of joining NATO on Saturday.
Only five members voted against and two abstained.
The government's formal decision is to be made on Sunday, which then has to be approved by Parliament.
Nothing would stand in the way of the official application to NATO next week.
Ideally, Finland's NATO application should be submitted "together with Sweden", Prime Minister Sanna Marin told journalists on Saturday.
"They have their own procedure, but of course I hope that we will make the decisions at the same time and submit our applications together," said the head of government.
Sweden also wants to decide on a NATO membership application on Sunday.
Finland's NATO plans: Headwind from Turkey - Erdogan expresses his own security concerns
Finland's NATO decision is not only met with criticism from Russia.
Negative statements also came from Turkey.
"We are currently monitoring developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we do not have a positive opinion on them,"
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday (May 13).
Erdogan's advisor Ibrahim Kalin explained the statements in more detail on Saturday.
Turkey is not definitely opposed to accession, it has its own security concerns.
Erdogan sees the Scandinavian countries as "guesthouses for terrorist organizations" like the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.
In the past he has accused them of not taking decisive action against the PKK or the Gülen movement.
The Turkish President has been critical of Finland's and Sweden's plans to join NATO (archive photo).
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
In theory, Turkey could block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO, since decisions within NATO are based on the principle of consensus.
Finland is confident that it can allay Turkish reservations about its envisaged NATO membership.
"I am sure that we will find a solution to this matter," said Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto on Saturday on the sidelines of consultations with NATO foreign ministers in Berlin.
However, he cannot promise that everything can be solved in one night.
During the debate, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the close ties between the military alliance and the two Nordic countries.
In the run-up to the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Berlin, Stoltenberg tweeted that he spoke to Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde about "further developments regarding a possible membership application".
The NATO Secretary General also held talks with Turkey.
Finland's NATO bid: Russia calls neighboring country's plans a 'mistake'
Russia, which shares a nearly 1,340-kilometer border with Finland, also reacted critically.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would "definitely" see Finland's NATO membership as a threat.
After a phone call with Finnish President Niinistö, the Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin had "underlined to Niinistö that ending the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake as there is no threat to Finland's security".
As a consequence of its plans to join NATO, Russia stopped supplying electricity to Finland on Saturday.
All further developments on the negotiations in the Ukraine war can be found in the negotiation ticker.
(chd/dpa)