Finland becomes 31st member of NATO in historic moment for Helsinki

The Finnish flag will be hoisted at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday 4 April in the afternoon. A historic moment for Helsinki.

By JLB with AFP

Lhe date for the official transition from guest to member status has been set: Finland will become the 31^e member of NATO on Tuesday 4 April. “Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will welcome Finland as 31^e member”, declared its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, specifying that the Finnish flag would be hoisted Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon at the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels. “It is truly a historic day,” he added, stressing that it was the “fastest” accession process in NATO’s recent history.

Asked about the fate of Sweden, for which Turkey has not yet given the green light, the NATO chief was optimistic. “I am absolutely confident that Sweden will also become a member. It is, for NATO, for me, a priority to ensure that this will happen as quickly as possible, ”he said during a press briefing. Sweden, like Finland, is already very integrated within NATO with the status of guest country.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the two countries decided to turn the page on their policy of military non-alignment in force since the 1990s, itself inherited from decades of forced or chosen neutrality, by asking to join the NATO in May 2022.