Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party) had to defend a presentation he made last week in which he pondered the possibility that all Nordic Countries might become members of NATO.
Currently, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland are NATO members, while Finland and Sweden are not.
MP Esko-Juhani Tennilä (Left Alliance) said in Parliament on Thursday that the speech was a provocation, which could cause problems for Finland’s negotiations with Russia over Russia’s export tariffs on wood.
Tennilä’s linkage of the two issues came as something of a surprise to some Parliamentarians. Defence Committee Chairman Juha Korkeaoja (Centre) asked Foreign Trade Minister Paavo Väyrynen (Centre) if any such linkages had emerged. Väyrynen said that they had not.
Former Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party) noted that the government programme does not include a prohibition on discussing possible NATO membership.
Häkämies feels that discussing NATO membership is in accordance with the government programme, because the government has promised to ascertain the impact of membership.
