{"id":1354680,"date":"2022-03-02T10:53:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354680"},"modified":"2022-03-02T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:53:07","slug":"finland-parliament-debates-nato-membership-in-wake-of-ukraine-invasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/finland-parliament-debates-nato-membership-in-wake-of-ukraine-invasion\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland Parliament Debates NATO Membership in Wake of Ukraine Invasion"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffinland-parliament-debates-nato-membership-in-wake-of-ukraine-invasion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354680&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1238731420-e1646213864392-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Finland\u2019s parliament discussed the possibility of the country looking to join that NATO alliance after a citizens\u2019 initiative demanded a debate on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>The Finnish parliament discussed the issue of NATO on Tuesday despite Social Democratic Party Prime Minister Sanna Marin stating Monday on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarinSanna\/status\/1498369308245770255?s=20&#038;t=sw5w7PXBiuNUoisi16Mudg\">that<\/a> \u201d There will be no broader discussion on Finland\u2019s line on the relationship to military alliance or non-alignment.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAs the citizens\u2019 initiative regarding NATO membership has collected the necessary number of signatures and is progressing to Parliament, it is worth hearing the views of the parties on the matter. From this point of view, the issue will also be on the agenda for tomorrow\u2019s parliamentary event,\u201d Marin <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarinSanna\/status\/1498369309994893320?s=20&#038;t=sw5w7PXBiuNUoisi16Mudg\">added<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, the issue of NATO membership for Finland and Sweden has come into the forefront, with Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-united-states-moscow-sweden-finland-38bc14feac1d35c4c86dcb710b44f60c\">specifically warning both countries<\/a> of consequences for joining the military alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in the house on Tuesday afternoon,\u00a0Marin summed up the government\u2019s view when she said: \u201cThe party leaders agreed that the foreign policy environment has changed significantly after Russia\u2019s attack on Ukraine.\u00a0Europe is at war.\u00a0We must admit that\u201d, the Svenska Yle news network <a href=\"https:\/\/svenska.yle.fi\/a\/7-10013633\">reported<\/a>. While public opinions on NATO membership was changing, the Prime Minister nevertheless said it would not be an issue \u201csettled quickly\u201d and the government would not \u201cbase the decisions on an opinion poll.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Nevertheless, Marin said, Finland is well defended even if the security budget must now be increased.<\/p>\n<p>There is dissent in parliament on the matter, though. The minority centrist-right\u00a0National Coalition Party <a href=\"https:\/\/svenska.yle.fi\/a\/7-10013633\">supports<\/a> Finland joining NATO immediately, Svenska Yle notes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Concern over a broader conflict has led Finns to buy large quantities of anti-radiation iodine tablets and to prepare a thousand beds for fleeing Ukrainians as Russia threatens consequences if the country joins NATO.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WMuJDiXkzU\">https:\/\/t.co\/WMuJDiXkzU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1497785481093955587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, however, brushed off the warnings over the weekend saying, \u201cWe don\u2019t think that it calls for a military threat,\u201d and said Finland had heard the same rhetoric in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Attitudes to Finland joining the NATO alliance have also changed significantly in recent years, with a 2017 poll indicating that just 19 per cent of Finns favoured their country joining NATO.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>On Monday, a new poll <a href=\"https:\/\/svenska.yle.fi\/a\/7-10013570\">released<\/a> by broadcaster YLE showed that now 53 per cent of Finns would support the country joining NATO and just 28 per cent were against breaking with the country\u2019s decades-long history of neutrality.<\/p>\n<p>Postdoctoral Researcher\u00a0Johanna Vuorelma from the University\u00a0of Helsinki\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/yle.fi\/uutiset\/3-12337319\">commented<\/a> on the poll saying, \u201cA truly significant turn of events in public opinion. You could say that the political continental plates are on the move. It does not occur to me to have such a significant transition in public opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The poll, which was conducted the day prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, shows that men are far more likely to support NATO membership at 64 per cent compared to 41 per cent of women who supported joining the alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, pharmacies in Finland have reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/02\/26\/russias-northern-neighbour-spooked-finns-buy-up-iodine-tablets-prepare-beds-for-refugees\/\">large sales of iodine tablets<\/a>, which are used against possible nuclear fallout, highlighting Finns\u2019 concerns that the conflict could spread and escalate.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sweden\u2019s Political Left Stands Against Govt Sending Weapons to Ukraine<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7MkqqU8ZiP\">https:\/\/t.co\/7MkqqU8ZiP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1498780120630366213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h5><span data-darkreader-inline-color=\"\"><em><strong><span class=\"a-size-large\">Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at\u00a0<span data-darkreader-inline-color=\"\"><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomlinsonCJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">@TomlinsonCJ<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or email at\u00a0ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finland\u2019s parliament discussed the possibility of the country looking to join that NATO alliance after a citizens\u2019 initiative demanded a debate on the issue. The Finnish parliament discussed the issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}