Mate Kocsis, the head of the Fidesz caucus in Parliament, said last week that the legislative body would send a delegation to Finland and Sweden to gain “information” so that lawmakers could make an informed decision. He later acknowledged that there is “very little chance” that they would vote to keep Finland and Sweden out of NATO.
If Hungary approves the applications and Turkey approves just Finland for now, Finland will reluctantly join NATO without Sweden. All that is required, once President Sauli Niinisto of Finland signs the legislation as expected, would be to deposit the act in Washington, the repository for the NATO founding treaty.
“The Hungarian government has made it clear that they will start the discussion within a few days, and I hope that they will ratify soon,” Mr. Stoltenberg said, while Turkey “has expressed concerns mainly about Sweden.”
In any case, he said: “Finland and Sweden are in a much better place now than before they applied, because as invitees Finland and Sweden sit at the NATO table, are integrated into the NATO civilian and military structures. They are also provided bilateral security assurances. So it’s inconceivable that there would be any threat against Finland and Sweden without NATO reacting.”
Charly Salonius-Pasternak, an analyst with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said after the vote that “Finland has never been in an equally good and safe position militarily.”
Finland’s “defense pillar has been strengthened, bilateral and multilateral cooperation has been strengthened, we have received security promises from NATO member countries,” he told the state broadcaster Yle. “There is a cultural change in our thinking in that we’re no longer alone, which has been a traumatic, mythical way of thinking in Finland.”
Steven Erlanger reported from Brussels, and Andrew Higgins from Warsaw. Johanna Lemola contributed reporting from Helsinki, Finland.
