The Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto signs a petition for NATO membership application in Helsinki on May 17, 2022. The proposal for the country's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was submitted to the Parliament on Monday by the ANNTI AIMO-KOIVISTO HELSINKI following its emergency meeting on Monday. The Speaker of Parliament said he intended to propose that the deputies do not approve the proposal in the absence of ratifications by all NATO member states. 28 of the 30 member states of the alliance have ratified Finland's accession.
READ MORE: Finland, Sweden pledge to join NATO together.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said at a press conference on Monday that it was important for Parliament to have enough time to process the proposal. Finland and Sweden will be ready to join the alliance when all the ratifications are done, Haavisto said.
READ MORE: Sweden pledges to meet T rkiye's demands for NATO membership.
Haavisto said that Parliament would make a simple majority decision to adopt the North Atlantic Treaty. The law will have to be signed by President Sauli Niinisto.
Speaker of Parliament Matti Vanhanen told the Finnish News Agency STT on Monday that Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee would wait for the ratifications of all the alliance's member states.
On May 18th, Finland applied for NATO membership. On June 29, NATO leaders invited the country to join the alliance. On July 5, NATO ambassadors signed the Finland Accession Protocol, which must be ratified by all 30 member states.