User:EmmaCoop/sandbox/Accession of Finland to NATO

The accession of Finland to NATO is the potential enlargement of NATO, a military alliance of 30 states in Europe and Northern America, incorporating Finland as the 31st member state.

History
In January 2022, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that "Finland retains the option of applying for NATO membership" in reaction to Russia's demand that NATO stop expanding eastward.

Finnish politics
In the 2000s, Finnish Presidents Tarja Halonen and Mauno Koivisto expressed their opposition to NATO membership, with the former not anticipating a threat from Russia and the latter writing that such membership would harm the relationship between Finland and Russia. Conversely, President Martti Ahtisaari supported Finnish membership in NATO, who argued that Finland should join all the organizations supported by other Western democracies in order "to shrug off once and for all the burden of Finlandization". In the 2006 Finnish presidential election against Halonen, Sauli Niinistö declared his support for NATO membership. In 2014, the National Coalition Party elected a pro-NATO politician in Alexander Stubb as its party leader and, consequently, prime minister of Finland.

In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, a majority of candidates opposed NATO membership. Of those who opposed membership, they mostly came from the Social Democratic Party and Centre Party. Meanwhile, the National Coalition Party supported membership.

On 12 June 2016, the National Coalition Party approved a statement that called for an application for NATO membership "in the next few years" while the Swedish People's Party of Finland called for membership in 2025.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conflict resulted in Finnish politicians reconsidering their position on NATO membership. Without declaring their support or opposition, the Left Alliance said a referendum should determine Finland's membership in NATO, a position shared by the Centre Party, but the latter said that membership would need support from a "significant majority". On 31 March, the Finns Party parliamentary group voted 29–3 in favour of NATO membership, with party chair Riikka Purra saying that party MPs would be allowed to vote consciencely should the Finnish Parliament vote on the matter.