Finland to formally join NATO “in the coming days,” Stoltenberg says

A bill passed by Turkey’s parliament Thursday to allow Finland to join NATO removed the last hurdle on the Nordic country’s road to the Alliance.

Turkey was the last among the alliance’s 30 members to ratify Finland’s membership after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill earlier this week, according to Reuters.

The next day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vote by the Turkish Grand National Assembly and said, “Finland will formally join our Alliance in the coming days.”

“All Allies made a historic decision last year to invite Finland and Sweden to join our Alliance. Since then, we have seen the fastest ratification process in NATO’s modern history,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian World Congress warmly congratulated Finland, which has been helping Ukraine a lot since the beginning of Russia’s aggression. “Finland’s accession will strengthen the Alliance and make Europe a safer place. United, we will stop the Russian evil and secure peace!” the UWC twitted.

We extend our sincerest greetings to Pres. @niinisto, PM @MarinSanna, people of #Finland on the 🇹🇷 Parliament's ratification of 🇫🇮 #NATO membership bid. FI's accession will strengthen the Alliance and make #Europe a safer place.United, we will stop the 🇷🇺 evil and secure peace!✌️ pic.twitter.com/Lbuwg5rbPQ

— Ukrainian World Congress 🇺🇦 (@UWCongress) March 31, 2023

The U.S. State Department also welcomed Turkey’s ratification for Finland and encouraged it to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession as well.

Accelerated accession into NATO is what the UWC has been demanding for Ukraine, too.

“NATO membership for Ukraine is key to stop Russia’s continuing invasion and destruction of Ukraine,” stated UWC President Paul Grod in October 2022. “This is an appropriate response to Putin’s efforts to illegally annex four Ukrainian regions that are currently under temporary Russian military occupation.”

Last June, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “Putin was looking for the ‘Finlandization’ of Europe. He’s going to get the ‘NATO-ization’ of Europe. And that’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe.”

NATO-ization must go on!

Photo: FT montage; AFP/Getty Images via Financial Times