NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed that Finland will formally join NATO on 4 April.
He stated this at a briefing in Brussels on April 3, a correspondent of European Pravda reports .
Speaking on the eve of the meeting of the Alliance’s foreign ministers, which will be held in the Belgian capital, Stoltenberg confirmed the information about Finland’s accession on Tuesday. This was previously reported by the media. Stoltenberg said that Tuesday will be a historic day.
“Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO, which will make Finland safer and our Alliance stronger. We will raise the flag of Finland for the first time here at NATO headquarters,” he said.
Answering a question, Stoltenberg explained that tomorrow Finland would participate in all meetings and activities of the Alliance as a full member. He explained that this would happen because all 30 member countries had approved the Finnish membership protocol.
The end of Finland’s membership still requires Turkey to transfer the ratified protocol of accession to the archives of the US State Department. After that, NATO must invite Finland to join, and Finland must sign the accession document and submit it to the US State Department.
However, all these procedures are planned to be done in Brussels so that Finnish or Turkish officials do not have to travel to Washington.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Helsingin Sanomat on Sunday evening that Finland’s membership could be formally approved in Brussels without documents being sent to Washington.
In the past, membership was considered to take effect only when the country’s representative submits the documents of accession to the US State Department in Washington.
It is noteworthy that April 4 is the anniversary of the founding of NATO. On this day in 1949 in Washington, representatives of 12 countries – the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Portugal – signed the North Atlantic Pact on a military-political alliance.
Recall that the Turkish parliament unanimously agreed to Finland’s entry into NATO on the night of March 31. Jens Stoltenberg then announced that Finland will officially become a member of NATO in the coming days.
Source : Українська правда
