Finland and Sweden are inching closer to joining NATO in what would be another jolt to the European security landscape following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Finland’s highest-ranking policymakers, threw their weight behind an application, and Sweden’s government is likely to do so in the coming days.
“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” Niinisto and Marin said in a joint statement Thursday. Membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would make Finland safer, and “as a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,” they said.
