As of: April 4, 2024, 6:44 p.m
By: Christiane Kühl
Comments
Press
Split
Finland has been a member of NATO for exactly one year. The country must now integrate its military into the alliance's structures. Finland is already a net contributor.
NATO is not only celebrating its 75th anniversary this Thursday - but also the first anniversary of Finland's membership. In the spring of 2022, Helsinki submitted its application for membership together with Stockholm, and the country was officially admitted on April 4, 2023. Sweden, on the other hand, had to wait until March 2024.
Finland is already proving to be a capable and useful ally. The country was a net contributor to the alliance in its first year. In 2024 it wants to spend 2.3 percent of its economic output (GDP) on defense, which is above the official NATO spending target of two percent. In the event of an acute military threat, the relatively small Finnish armed forces can quickly mobilize a reserve reserve of 280,000 people.
Finland makes valuable contributions to NATO - and benefits from joining
“With its Arctic capabilities, resilience and state-of-the-art military, Finland is already contributing to NATO,” writes Jason Moyer of the US think tank Wilson Center. In total, Finland has contributed more than 2.5 billion euros to support Ukraine so far, making it the ninth largest aid provider in relation to GDP, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy's Ukraine Support Tracker. The day before NATO's anniversary, Finnish President Alexander Stubb announced his country's 23rd aid package worth 188 million euros during a visit to Kiev and signed a ten-year security agreement with Ukraine.
But Finland also benefits from NATO the other way around. It had been neutral for decades, after the Second World War initially under pressure from the Soviet Union and later out of conviction. Finland has been a NATO partner since 1994, but did not seek membership until 2022. It was only the beginning of the war in Ukraine that led to a new security assessment there in view of Moscow's open expansion drive. At that time the polls also changed and the population was suddenly in favor of joining. And NATO membership is still popular in Finland today: around 89 percent of the 5.5 million Finns support the alliance.
Finland safer by joining NATO, despite threats from Russia
Probably also because the country has become safer - despite Putin's increasing threats and gray zone tactics along the border since joining NATO. In October 2023, an underwater telephone cable and a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia were destroyed at the same time - Finland did not want to rule out sabotage and a “state actor” at the time. Finland no longer has a political dialogue with Russia.
Finnish Leopard tanks at the NATO exercise “Nordic Response” in February: The country has become safer in one year of NATO membership. © Heiko Junge/NTB/Imago
According to Estonia's foreign intelligence service, Russia is preparing to deploy a new unit of ground combat troops near the Finnish border, where the Russian military presence has so far been minimal. “We didn’t have troops there, now they will be there,” President Vladimir Putin said in a recent interview with the
RIA
news agency and the state broadcaster
Rossiya-1
. “There were no demolition systems there, now they are being moved there.”
My news
Videos show losses: Russia's tank fleet is lost in the rain of cluster bombs
2 hours ago
Many pensioners are entitled to more pension points - but these are only available upon application
Debate about citizens' money for Ukraine refugees: “The federal government is making our lives difficult” read
Tumor discovered too late: 19-year-old falls into a coma after chemo
Russia's economy worried: dependence on China will be Putin's downfall
“He was reckless”: driver dispute escalated – passenger grabs information about the background to the Flixbus accident
Russia: Hybrid actions against Finland
Russia has also been deliberately allowing more and more refugees to be brought to the border for months. Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo viewed this approach as a "hybrid threat" from Moscow. Helsinki closed all border crossings with Russia in November 2023 and has since increased controls along the 1,300 kilometer long border.
Finland concluded an agreement with Washington that allows US forces to use 15 military bases for joint operations. On the sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting, both countries also agreed to take joint action against state-orchestrated disinformation campaigns.
Integration into NATO structures: Finland faces complicated tasks
With accession came the task of gradually integrating the Finnish military into NATO structures. Before Easter, the Air Force completed so-called integration training over the Baltic Sea together with Sweden, in which German pilots also took part. Finnish ground troops must be able to meet NATO requirements for joint operations. In March, Finland took part for the first time as a member of the NATO exercise
Nordic Response
, in which defense against an enemy invasion was tested in the border area with Norway and Sweden.
In addition to practical challenges, NATO integration is also associated with cultural challenges, warns a new study by the International Center for Defense and Security in Estonia's capital Tallinn - for example when Finland has to adapt its previously "highly independent defense model to the requirements of collective defense".
Sweden and Finland should not forget their role in the Baltic Sea region because of their Nordic identity, the authors write. “The tension between the Nordic and Baltic identities of the two states has already become apparent in a discussion about where they will fit into NATO’s command and control systems.” All of this is solvable, but must be addressed honestly.