Finland breaks the ice of neutrality

On 4 April, Finland officially joined NATO, after Turkey ratified its membership. The decision brings an end to several months of obstruction from Ankara, ostensibly due to Nordic governments’ support for several pro-Kurdish groups.

This was anything but a foregone conclusion: at the beginning of 2022, the Finns were opposed to the idea of joining the Atlantic alliance, including even Prime Minister Sanna Marin (Social Democratic Party of Finland, centre-left). However, Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine has convinced the country that abandoning its long tradition of neutrality has become a necessity.

The timing is perhaps a little off. Marin, who had been a strong supporter of both Ukraine and her country’s accession to NATO, narrowly lost the 2 April parliamentary elections. Her party came third (19.9% of the vote), behind the nationalist Finns Party (20.1%) and Petteri Orpo’s conservative National Coalition Party (20.8%), which is set to take power.