Finland, Sweden officially submit for NATO membership

Updated 5/18/22 at 11:47 am EST with comment from Biden.

WASHINGTON: The governments of Finland and Sweden have officially moved to join the NATO alliance, with the two nations submitting their formal documentation to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this morning.

Stoltenberg, in accepting the documents, called it a “historic” moment, adding, “I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners, and your membership in NATO would increase our shared security.”

The meeting marks the kickoff to a membership process that has traditionally taken well over a year, but which leaders in Helsinki, Stockholm and Brussels all hope can be expedited given the current crisis in Europe. In Tuesday comments, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said the hope is for the US, in particular, to move quickly to ratify their membership.

“If you have a quick process there, it helps the whole process and the timetable for the whole process,” Niinisto said during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. Both will travel to Washington for a Thursday meeting with President Joe Biden — and, presumably, meet with Senate leaders who will be key in pushing for a quick vote in the Senate to ratify membership, a step required for all new aspirants.

For his part, Biden issued a statement saying “I warmly welcome and strongly support the historic applications from Finland and Sweden for membership in NATO and look forward to working with the U.S. Congress and our NATO Allies to quickly bring Finland and Sweden into the strongest defensive alliance in history.”

The two Nordic neighbors both rode out the Cold War by not militarily joining either the Western alliance or the Warsaw Pact. However, both countries are members of the European Union and have roles as observer nations at NATO through the Partnership for Peace system that allows cooperation with the alliance without actually joining.

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As a result, leaders from both countries say, they should be particularly well situated for a quick approval on the basis of their capabilities. The potential holdup comes from the fact that the governments of the 30 NATO nations must approve Sweden and Finland’s requests; already, Turkey is making it clear it expects political concessions to allow NATO membership for the two aspirants to happen.

Getting both nations into NATO was something of a white whale for the European security community — until Russia’s mid-February invasion of Ukraine. Public sentiment swung sharply in favor of joining the alliance in both nations, culminating in the May 12 announcement from Finland that it would pursue membership. Sweden followed suit on May 16.

As Sweden and Finland will not enjoy the formal protection of the alliance until they become full members, the lingering question has been how Russia will respond. Shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began, Russia made open threats towards Finland and Sweden to dissuade them from joining NATO. Those threats appeared to backfire, with support for the alliance jumping significantly in their wake across both nations.

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However, in recent days, Russia’s tone has shifted, seemingly downplaying the significance of NATO expansion — ironically, a key talking point from Moscow when justifying its invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said adding Sweden and Finland to the alliance will make “not much difference” to Russian interests.

Regardless, both countries have spent the last month whipping up support from key partners. For instance, on May 5, Sweden’s ambassador to the US said that “we have asked what other NATO members could do to help us out in this time to raise the threshold” for a Russian attack. (Of note, Swedish defense minister Peter Hultqvist will be meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon this week.)

In his statement, Biden said that “Together with our NATO Allies, the United States will maintain its robust exercise activity and presence in the Baltic Sea region. While their applications for NATO membership are being considered, the United States will work with Finland and Sweden to remain vigilant against any threats to our shared security, and to deter and confront aggression or the threat of aggression.”

On May 11, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Sweden and Finland to sign new security agreements with both. He was quoted by Reuters as saying, “What it says is that in the event of a disaster, or in the event of an attack on either of us, then we will come to each other’s assistance, including with military assistance.”

And after Sweden and Finland’s announcement that they would seek NATO membership, the other three Nordic nations — Denmark, Norway and Iceland — issued a joint statement calling for a “swift” ascension process and pledging security assistance for both in the coming months.

“Finland and Sweden’s security is a matter of common concern to us all. Should Finland or Sweden be victim of aggression on their territory before obtaining NATO membership, we will assist Finland and Sweden by all means necessary,” the statement reads. “We immediately initiate preparations in order to effectuate these security assurances. We will also further develop our defence cooperation with Finland and Sweden.”