Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson admitted at a Moderate Coalition Party conference on March 25 that Finland would join NATO before Sweden.
Finland and Sweden applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance in May 2022, but only two out of 30 countries, Turkey and Hungary, have not yet ratified it. At the same time, Budapest and Ankara have so far announced their readiness to ratify the Finnish application, but not the Swedish one.
“Right now everything is saying that Finland will enter before Sweden,” Kristersson said.
On March 23, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö signed the laws on the country’s accession to NATO.
In particular, the head of state approved the “Government’s proposal for the approval and entry into force of the North Atlantic Treaty and the Agreement on the status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, national representatives and international personnel.”
On the same day, a committee of the Turkish parliament approved Finland’s entry into NATO.
At the same time, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, on March 16, announced the Kremlin’s regret over the movement of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
In February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out Sweden’s NATO membership. The reason was the desecration of the Koran, which was carried out in Sweden by a Danish politician with the approval of the authorities.
