NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen made a joint press statement before the trilateral meeting.
Stating that they welcomed Turkey’s decision to initiate the approval process of Finland’s NATO accession protocol in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Stoltenberg said, “I hope the Parliament will take a quick decision on ratification.”
Recalling that Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership together and that all NATO allies invited these two countries to join the alliance at last year’s summit, Stoltenberg said, “We welcome the progress made in completing Finland’s approval and we will continue to work hard. “Ensuring that Sweden becomes a full member in the near future will be the top priority,” he said.
Noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with the aim of having less NATO in Europe, Stoltenberg said, “The opposite is happening. There will be more NATO in Europe. Both Finland and Sweden The fact that he applied for and was invited to become a full member shows this.”
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that Finland and Sweden are already in a much better position than they were before the application, due to the fact that these countries achieved a “new status” in their relations with NATO when invited.
Stoltenberg underlined that he looks forward to both countries becoming full members of NATO.
“We see Sweden as our closest partner”
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto thanked Stoltenberg for her support in the NATO membership process and said, “I think our efforts are really appreciated. We visited Ankara last week and heard the commitment from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that our application will be sent to the Turkish Grand National Assembly for approval. ‘ he used the phrase.
Haavisto stressed that they welcome Turkey’s decision and expect approval from the Hungarian parliament.
Underlining that the process will accelerate with the approval of Turkey and Hungary, Haavisto said, “We see Sweden as our closest partner. We applied for NATO membership together. We hope to attend the summit to be held in Vilnius in July as member states.”
Stating that they did not see Finland’s NATO membership as “complete” until Sweden became a part of the union, Haavisto said, “Finnish people are security-oriented people and we are very grateful to the countries that guarantee our security during the application process.” said.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen also reminded that there are positive developments regarding his country’s NATO membership, “Of course, we hoped that Sweden would become a member at the same time, but this is not possible now. The sooner the better. That’s why Sweden’s membership as soon as possible.” We have to work hard to become a member.” made its assessment.
Emphasizing that Finland has a strong defense infrastructure, Kaikkonen said, “We contribute to the security of Northern Europe. This is a ‘win-win’ situation. Both NATO and Finland are winning. This also applies to Sweden.” used the phrases.