Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the NATO military alliance is a “top priority,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.
“The time is now to ratify and to fully welcome both Finland and Sweden as members,” he said at a joint presser with Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Helsinki.
“It is inconceivable that there would be any threat against Finland or Sweden without NATO reacting,” he added.
Stoltenberg went on to say that, so far, Finland and Sweden have had the “quickest accession process in NATO’s modern history.”
Both countries applied for membership in May last year, and in June all NATO allies agreed to invite both countries to join the alliance and set out accession protocols.
So far, 28 out of the 30 allies have ratified both Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO. Only Hungary and Turkey have not yet done so.
The Hungarian parliament have made it clear they will start discussion within a few days, according to Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg added that Turkey had expressed some concerns about the countries’ accession, mainly concerning Sweden.
More on NATO bids: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that his country’s talks with Sweden and Finland on the Nordic countries’ NATO accession bid will resume on March 9.
Finnish PM Marin was clear on her country’s reasons for joining the alliance, saying that the “NATO line is the only line that Russia wouldn’t cross.”
Marin said that those countries which have not yet ratified Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership are “a burden to NATO.”
“Because we are fulfilling the criteria, there shouldn’t be any problems when it comes to our membership,” she said, adding that she hopes Hungary and Turkey will ratify soon.
Stoltenberg also added that Ukraine “will become a member of our alliance… but that is a long-term perspective.”
