NATO | Häkkänen: The current parliament should deal with the NATO legislation completely – Vanhanen believes that a consensus can be found in the order

Defense Committee chairman Antti Häkkänen (kok) supports the idea that the legislation regarding NATO membership will be processed during the current parliament.

According to Häkkänen, the matter can be processed before the missing ratifications. Hungary and Turkey have not accepted Sweden and Finland, which applied to NATO last year, for membership.

Häkkänen justifies the issue with the difficult international situation. According to him, the implementation of NATO membership should not be slowed down by the domestic legal process.

“If this parliament has been dealing with this matter for nine months and the matter is clear as day in terms of the support of the citizens, the president, the government and the parliament, then there should be very compelling reasons for the matter to be moved to the next parliament. I see no such grounds. It’s not worth complicating a clear issue.”

Thing the hearing has been talked about ever since the government presented the accession bill to the parliament at the beginning of December. Speaker of the Parliament Matti Vanhanen (Centre) has invited the parliamentary groups to discuss the schedule tomorrow, Friday.

According to Vanhanen, it would be good if the parliamentary parties could reach an agreement on the marching order in which Finland’s NATO membership would be done nationally.

Vanhanen says that Turkey’s actions have caused a great deal of confusion regarding the membership of Finland and Sweden, so it would be very important for Finland to act as clearly as possible.

Vanhanen thinks it is very likely that an agreement will be found.

Old man has previously suggested that the parliament should wait for the missing ratifications before it fully deals with the matter. He justified the matter by saying that the parliament does not prepare laws in advance for the desk drawer.

This could mean that the matter is transferred to the next parliament, if the missing ratifications are not obtained before then. Unlike most bills, as an international agreement, the NATO proposal would not expire in parliament with the election.

Even if the parliament and the president approve the bill, Finland cannot become a full member of NATO until all current member countries have ratified the membership.

Several parliamentary committees have taken a stand on the bill. The matter still requires a report prepared by the foreign affairs committee, on the basis of which the plenary session of the parliament will vote on the bill.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Jussi Halla-aho (ps) has been on the same line with Vanhanen. He has said that he does not see the benefit of finishing the parliamentary proceedings without the missing ratifications.

“The argument in favor of waiting is that things can happen during the process that the committee can take a stand on in its report,” Halla-aho told STT at the beginning of January.

Häkkänen denies the idea that through domestic decision-making, Finland would break away from Sweden’s pace. According to him, the issue can still be coordinated internationally at the stage when the NATO Secretary General, after the last ratifications, formally invites Finland to become a member.

“There are currently no such compelling reasons that this process should be differentiated. Now we aim for the summit in Vilnius in the summer, after which there will be a new situational assessment.”

After the parliament, the bill receives final approval from the president of the republic, after which the document is sent to the United States for deposit.

Häkkänen is the vice-chairman of the coalition that has long supported NATO membership. According to him, the party’s parliamentary group does not yet have an official position on the matter, but there is a “clear public spirit” on the matter.

“There have been many discussions about this,” says Häkkänen.

Prime minister Sanna Marin (sd) is not going to make public its position on whether the legislation on NATO membership should be processed during the current parliament before Friday.

According to Marin, his own party members know the position, but as prime minister he does not want to share it before a joint discussion with other parties.

Marin commented on the matter when arriving at the summit of the political leaders of the EU countries in Brussels.