On Sunday, May 15, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy finalized a report on Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
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"The report will be submitted to Parliament once it has been endorsed in the plenary session of the Government," the Finnish Government said in an official statement on Sunday.
On Saturday, the President of the Nordic country, Sauli Niinistö, at a press conference together with the Prime Minister, Sanna Mari, and the heads of Defense, Antti Kaikkonen, and Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, said that Finland is "entering a new era".
In turn, Mari described the decision as historic and said that, as a member state, Finland will be responsible for the security of the North Atlantic Alliance as a whole.
For his part, Chancellor Haavisto indicated that if the Parliament gives its approval to the proposal, Helsinki could make the official request to NATO by the middle of next week.
Finland and its neighbor Sweden stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, however, both countries have reconsidered their stance after the launch of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in late February.
Russian leaders have argued that the accesion of new members into NATO and the deplyment of strategic weapons on their country's doorstep is in violation of the principle of “indivisible security,” meaning neither the West nor Moscow should be allowed to strengthen its own security at the expense of the other party.