Policy|NATO membership
The committee heard about the discussions held by the President of the Republic during his visit to the United States.
Republic the president and the government’s foreign and security policy ministerial committee discussed the progress of Finland’s NATO membership process on Sunday evening.
In addition, the committee heard the president Sauli Niinistön About the discussions during the US visit.
The so-called tp-utva met exceptionally on Sunday due to the “calendar rush” of the week, announced the Chancellery of the Government.
Department head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Piritta Asunmaa did not tell HS about the content of the meeting in more detail. According to Asunmaa, the gathering was exceptionally held on Sunday evening due to the election rush.
The meeting came as a surprise at least to the extent that According to Turku Sanomat Minister of Education Lee Andersson (left) had to cancel its election event planned for Sunday in Kemiönsaari, when the ministers were called together.
Niinistö was on a visit to the United States last week, where he met, among others, the president Joe Biden and visited the Norfolk NATO military base in Virginia.
According to Asunmaa, Niinistö had returned from the US visit to Finland before Sunday evening’s tp-utva meeting.
Read more: “Biden encouraged us forward,” President Niinistö said about NATO membership – this is how the surprise visit came about
On Thursday, the representatives of Finland, Sweden and Turkey met in Brussels for the first time since the three countries’ talks regarding NATO membership stalled in January.
Along with Hungary, Turkey is one of the two NATO member countries that have not ratified the membership of Finland and Sweden.
Secretary of State acting as head of office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jukka Salovaara described after the meeting that the discussions had a very constructive spirit. On Thursday, the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spokesman Ibrahim Kalın said, however, that Finland’s and Sweden’s actions are not enough for Turkey to ratify their NATO membership.
Read more: Finland’s chief negotiator on the NATO process: “Things are back on track”
Read more: Erdoğan’s spokesman: The actions of Finland and Sweden are not yet sufficient for ratification – Marin: There should be no obstacles to the membership of either
Turkey would like to buy F16 fighter jets from the US for $20 billion. It has been speculated that by agreeing to the fighter jet sale, the United States could persuade Turkey to accept Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership.
Niinistö emphasized at his press conference in the United States on Thursday that Finland will not intervene in bilateral issues between the United States and Turkey.
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