Negotiators in the ongoing government formation talks are coming to the conclusion that Finland will not make moves to apply for membership in NATO in the current electoral term. However, Finland is not ruling out a close relationship with the alliance
Finland’s NATO stance has evolved slowly. Possible membership in NATO appeared in political texts in the 1990s. The turns of phrase have changed as different government programmes and security policy reports have been issued.
1995: A cautious NATO option appeared in the policy programme of the first government of Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (SDP). “Finland will best promote the stable development of Northern Europe in prevailing conditions by staying outside military alliances.”
1999: The key words were moved to the front of the sentence in the programme of Lipponen’s second government: “In the prevailing conditions Finland promotes stable development in Northern Europe best by being militarily non-aligned.”
2001: The matter was addressed more directly in the government’s report on defence and security policy: “Finland constantly evaluates the functionality of military non-alignment and crisis management and other security cooperation in Europe […] Finland will make its choices independently and will seek to make sure that it has in all situations the best possible means of handling with its security.”
2003: The NATO option was averted in the policy programme of Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Centre Party) by making reference to the security policy report of 2001. There was a promise to return to the matter in the report scheduled for 2004.
2007: The programme of the second government of Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) noted that in addition to the security policy report, there would be a report on the impact of Finland’s possible military alignment. The report said that the impact would be mostly positive. In the government programme it was repeated that Finland would “keep its possibility to apply for NATO membership”. It was separately decided that there would be no membership application in the ongoing government term.
2009: The Parliamentary “follow-up group” which laid the groundwork for a new security policy report, kept the NATO option largely unchanged from what it was in the government programme. In the report itself, indirect reference was made to the NATO study, and a condition was set for joining. “There will continue to be in the future strong reasons to consider Finnish membership in NATO. Broad political understanding is essential, and taking popular opinion into account is important in deciding on possible membership.”
2011: The new government is coming to the conclusion that although the NATO option still exists, Finland is not preparing to apply for NATO membership in the new electoral term.
