STOCKHOLM, March 1. /TASS/. The Finnish parliament has voted to adopt a bill on the republic’s accession to NATO, as live-streamed on the parliament’s website Wednesday.
A simple majority was required to adopt the bill. A total of 184 lawmakers voted in favor, while only 7 opposed. The bill must now be approved by President Sauli Niinisto for final ratification.
The vote, which was initially supposed to take place on February 28, was postponed to Wednesday after Left Alliance lawmaker Markus Mustajarvi proposed to reject the bill, and instead adopt a number of statements stipulating that Finland will not allow nuclear weapons, NATO military bases or third-country military contingents to be deployed on its territory. Mustajarvi’s initiatives were put to a vote and were rejected by a majority of lawmakers.
On December 5, the Finnish government introduced a bill on NATO membership to the parliament. The first discussion took place on December 13. In May 2022, Finland and Sweden filed applications for accession to the alliance, but their accession was blocked by Turkey, who demanded that the northern European states declared Kurdish organizations terrorist and extradited any people accused of involvement in the 2016 coup d’etat. Turkish-Swedish relations escalated after a Quran-burning incident that took place in Stockholm on January 21. After the incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Sweden should not expect Ankara’s endorsement of its NATO membership application. Foreign and Defense Ministers of Turkey made similar statements. Currently, the ratification of Sweden’s application has been suspended.