Both Finland and Sweden are on the verge of making decisions to join NATO, possibly before the NATO’s Madrid summit in June. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin travelled to Stockholm, yesterday, to meet with her Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson, to discuss the potential of both countries joining the North Atlantic alliance.
During their subsequent joint press conference, Marin said Finland is ready to make a decision on NATO “within weeks” rather than months, following an extensive debate in the Finnish legislature, reported The Associated Press. Marin stressed that Finland and Sweden, two neighboring Nordic countries which have close economic, political, and military ties, will make independent decisions regarding their security policy arrangements, including whether to join NATO. “But we do that with a clear understanding that our choices will affect not only ourselves but our neighbors as well,” Marin said, adding that she would prefer seeing both Finland and Sweden become NATO members.
Andersson said Sweden and Finland would maintain “a very close dialogue and have very straightforward and honest discussions” in the coming weeks over their countries’ respective choices on NATO. Both Marin and Andersson emphasized that while Finland and Sweden have enhanced defense cooperation and recognise the need to maintain a dialogue, each country will decide whether to apply for NATO membership independently. Both countries are expected to make their decisions to join the alliance ahead of the NATO summit in June.
