Statement by the Prime Minister of Finland

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that her country wants to join NATO along with Sweden.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Marin noted that Finland, together with Sweden, gave a clear message to Turkey and Hungary, which did not give their final approval to become NATO members.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto also said yesterday in a statement that his country’s NATO membership process is in the hands of Turkey. Speaking to reporters after the Finnish Parliament announced that it would approve NATO’s founding agreements on February 28, Niinisto said that if Turkey makes such a decision, Finland can become a NATO member without Sweden, saying: “We can’t withdraw our candidacy application and we don’t want to do this.” he had spoken.

Turkey has not yet approved Sweden and Finland’s application to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After the provocation of burning the Koran in Sweden, talks with the two countries stopped, but Ankara made statements that only Finland’s membership could be approved.