Finland officially became the thirty-first member of NATO. On March 4, the country signed a historic document on joining the alliance.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Pekka Haavisto handed over the document on Finlandʼs accession to the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. After the handover, Finland became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Defense Alliance.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Pekka Haavisto, signed the historic document on the countryʼs accession to NATO.
The countryʼs president, Sauli Niinisto, made a statement on this matter: "Today, Finland became a member of the NATO defense alliance. A new era begins. Every country maximizes its security. This is also what Finland does. At the same time, NATO membership strengthens our international position and our freedom of movement. As a partner, we have been actively participating in NATO activities for a long time. In the future, Finland will become part of NATOʼs overall deterrence and defense system."
He also noted that Finland has applied to join NATO together with Sweden, and "Finlandʼs membership is not complete without Swedenʼs membership, so work on Swedenʼs membership as soon as possible continues."
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Tobias Bilström informed that the country is happy about Finlandʼs membership in the military alliance.
"Of course, we feel great joy from the fact that our kindred and brotherly peoples from the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea have joined NATO. Itʼs no secret that we would like to become participants at the same time. But it didnʼt work, so itʼs important for us to continue working on NATO membership," noted Bilström.
The minister believes that the chances that Sweden will also become a member of NATO before the summit in Vilnius on July 11-12 are "high".
- In May 2022, Sweden and Finland renounced their traditional neutrality against the backdrop of Russiaʼs military invasion of Ukraine and submitted applications to join NATO. The Alliance promptly considered them and agreed to accept them. After that, the applications of these countries had to be ratified by the parliaments of all NATO members. But Turkey became the biggest opponent of accession — it put forward conditions for Sweden and Finland in exchange for ratification.
- In 2023, Turkey stated that Finland had made better progress in meeting the conditions than Sweden. Therefore, on March 30, the Turkish parliament was the last to ratify Finlandʼs application. As for Sweden, discussions are currently ongoing — its entry is blocked by Hungary and Turkey.