Former Foreign Trade Minister Pertti Salolainen calls for NATO membership

Pertti Salolainen

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Pertti Salolainen, former Chairman of the National Coalition Party, and former Minister for Foreign Trade, who recently left his post as Finnish Ambassador in London, says that Finland should apply for membership in NATO "within a few years".
      Salolainen sees the current situation as similar to the one that prevailed in the early 1990s when Finland was a part of the European Economic Area, and decided to apply for membership in the European Union.
      "In practice, we are involved in all NATO activity, except that of taking part in making decisions involving ourselves and Europe", Salolainen said on Tuesday at a luncheon of foreign diplomats based in Helsinki.
      Salolainen, who is still employed by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, emphasised that he was speaking as a private individual.
     
Salolainen feels that the present situation will become "especially illogical" two or three years from now, when Finland will take part in the same EU rapid deployment forces with Germany and The Netherlands, both of which are NATO members.
      "The clear conclusion to be drawn from this is that the political leadership should make a decision on applying for NATO membership within a few years", Salolainen said.
      He also predicted that NATO membership would be a key question during the term of the next Finnish President, even though he expects that the candidates in the upcoming election will probably do all they can to avoid expressing an opinion, out of fear of public opinion.
     
Salolainen said that he is sure that public opinion on the issue will change "as soon as the President, Prime minister, and other leading politicians note that Finnish security interests require NATO membership".
      There was no such indication in the government's security and defence policy report, which was approved by the President and Parliament in the autumn.
      Sauli Niinistö, the Presidential candidate of the opposition National Coalition Party, has not yet taken a public stand on the NATO question.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Clear majority of Finns still opposed to NATO membership (28.2.2005)
  Expert forum expects Finland to join NATO in ten years (2.2.2005)
  Intervention by President topples conservative NATO operation (20.12.2004)

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