Finland's President Sauli Niinistö today signed the laws that pave the way for his country's NATO membership, at least from the Finnish side. At the beginning of March, parliament voted by a large majority in favor of the government's proposal for the legislation necessary for the country to join the Western Defense Alliance. After the vote, Niinistö announced that he wanted to approve the whole thing before the Finnish parliamentary elections on April 2nd.

However, Finland still has to wait for Turkey and Hungary to ratify its membership application. All other 28 NATO members have already agreed to join. Hungary wants to ratify Finland's accession on March 27th. Turkey has also announced that it intends to vote on it soon.

Against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the Nordic country had applied for admission to the defense alliance together with Sweden last May. The two countries had long hoped to join NATO at the same time. But because Turkey has so far blocked Sweden's accession, Finland could go ahead alone. The country shares a border with Russia that is more than 1,300 kilometers long.