London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Finland takes step towards joining NATO without waiting for Sweden

Finland takes step towards joining NATO without waiting for Sweden

The parliament in Helsinki is to debate and vote on joining the alliance without waiting for Sweden, or the approval of Turkey and Hungary.

Finland begins its final debate in parliament on Tuesday on NATO membership, without waiting for the approval of Turkey and Hungary.

Nor is Helsinki waiting for neighbouring Sweden, which has also been a candidate since last year but is currently facing a Turkish veto.

The government of outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin wants to avoid any potential political vacuum, with elections due on April 2.

"We would have hoped to become members of Nato already. Finland and Sweden fulfil all the criteria, as has been mentioned, and we are yet waiting. And of course, this strains the open-door policy of NATO; it's also to do with Nato's credibility," Marin said.

The 200 members of the Finnish parliament, the Eduskunta, are due to begin debating the NATO accession bill on Tuesday, with a vote expected by Wednesday.

The outcome is not in doubt: in a preliminary vote last May there was near-unanimous support, including from parties which had previously been opposed to joining the military alliance. Only a handful of far-left and far-right MPs are expected to vote against it.

The debate coincides with a visit to Finland by NATO's secretary general for meetings with key political leaders.

"The time has come" for Ankara and Budapest to ratify the two Nordic countries' membership bids, Jens Stoltenberg said. "Both Finland and Sweden have accomplished what they promised" to Turkey, he added.

Finland and Sweden decided to turn the page on their decades-long policy of military non-alignment after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, applying for NATO membership in May 2022.

Twenty-eight of the alliance's 30 members, including the United States, have already ratified the entry of the two Nordic countries.

The Hungarian government, known for its more ambiguous position regarding Moscow, has signalled its approval in principle.

But after a meeting between the Hungarian and Swedish foreign ministers, a government spokesman in Budapest cited "MPs' concerns about the ratification of NATO accession and unfounded lies about the state of democracy in Hungary".


Turkey's opposition to Swedish membership of NATO has centred on Kurdish militants living in the Nordic country. Stockholm's difficulties with Ankara, which culminated in a series of diplomatic incidents in January, have pushed Finland to revise its original desire to join simultaneously with Sweden.

Jens Stoltenberg has acknowledged that the most important thing was not for the countries to join NATO together, but for them to join as soon as possible.

Turkey confirmed on Monday that it could separate Finland's ratification from that of Sweden.

Hungary has so far not mentioned any obstacles to approving the bid, but it remains uncertain.

A majority of Finns (53%) want to join NATO without waiting for Sweden, according to a poll published in early February.

The country, forced into neutrality by Moscow after its war with the Soviet Union during the Second World War, shares the longest European border (1,340 km) with Russia, behind Ukraine.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×