Niinistö stresses importance of NATO membership by July

President Sauli Niinistö on Saturday underscored the importance of completion of the NATO membership ratifications for Finland and Sweden before the Vilnius Summit scheduled to be held in July.

“Our NATO memberships are still two ratifications short of completion. I want to stress that it is very important that at the Vilnius Summit in July, we will both sit at the table as full NATO members. In these critical times, Finland and Sweden’s memberships will strengthen the whole Alliance,” said Niinistö at the Ewald von Kleist Award ceremony in Munich Security Conference.

This year, the Munich Security Conference has awarded the prestigious prize to Finland and Sweden for their decision to apply for NATO membership.

Speaking on the Russia´s invasion of Ukraine, the President said that the Western response to Russia’s aggression has been swift, strong and unified.

“We are united in our support and solidarity to Ukraine. We are united in our opposition to Russia’s illegal acts. And we are united in our resolve to strengthen our own defence and resilience,” Niinistö said.

He also said that for Finland, Russia’s invasion brought back echoes of own history of Finland.

“We had not forgotten our past. Throughout the years, we had continued to invest in our security. We had held on to conscription as the backbone of our national defence. We had developed international partnerships and become a trusted partner for NATO,” the President said.

“We had not let our guard down. But we, too, needed to rethink. Russia’s attempt to bring back spheres of influence and, finally after that, its attack on a sovereign neighbour prompted us to take one more step in increasing our security: that is applying for NATO membership,” he added.

Niinistö said that the decision was made in close coordination with Finland`s friend and closest partner, Sweden.

“I believe I speak for both Finland and Sweden when I say that we are deeply grateful for all the support that we have gotten in this process,” he said.

Turkey is demanding concrete Finnish and Swedish actions to address Turkish security concerns over extraditing hostile groups members before it unblocks their accession into NATO.

Another country Hungary did not ratify the membership yet, although Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on November 2 assured President Sauli Niinistö that his country will ratify Finland´s NATO accession protocol.

Finland and Sweden submitted the NATO membership applications in May.

Their accession procedure officially started in early July after 30 NATO members, including Turkey signed accession protocols.

So far 28 countries out of total 30 ratified the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden.

The countries are USA, Italy, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, United Kingdom, Albania, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Montenegro, Belgium, North Macedonia, France, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain Portugal and Slovakia ratified the membership protocols.

In late June, the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Turkey will support the Finland´s and Sweden´s NATO membership applications.