NATO | President Niinistö on the United States’ NATO ratification to Yle: “This went confusingly fast”

President Sauli Niinistö evaluate To Ylethat Ratification of Finland’s NATO membership In the United States, progress has been faster than expected in Finland.

“For the United States, this went bewilderingly fast,” he said. Niinistö commented on the US decision at his summer residence in Naantali, where the president’s presentation was organized on Thursday.

According to the president, US ratification does not mean that Finland is now covered by NATO’s security guarantees, i.e. Article 5, but it still matters.

According to him, the quick ratification shows that the United States considers Finland and Sweden to be “very welcome under protection”.

“Yes, it matters,” he assessed.

Ratification required of all NATO member countries. The biggest Turkey is the base of the casewho has opposed Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership citing terrorism concerns.

Niinistö estimates that “the conversation with Turkey continues”.

“I can’t predict how long.”

Parliamentary chairman of the defense committee, chairman of the association Petteri Orpo reviews Yle In practice, the US ratification decision means that Finland now has US security guarantees.

“It is of great importance for our safety. In practice, we now have security guarantees from the United States,” Orpo told Yle.

Ratified by the United States Finnish time on the night before the Thursday before Finland and Sweden join NATO. The issue was discussed in the US Senate.

Of the 100-seat senate, 95 members supported Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership, and only one representative voted against.

In the discussion before the vote, Finland and Sweden received high praise from US senators. The senators already repeated the praise they often heard during the spring about how Finland and Sweden strengthen NATO and are strong Western democracies.