Finland is known to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025.
The President of Finland has launched an initiative to hold a new OSCE summit in Helsinki in 2025 to commemorate the historic summit 50 years ago.
Eight prominent international and 66 national organizations from Europe and OSCE member states, including Ukraine, called in a joint letter dated 29 April 2022 to the President of Finland to do their utmost to honor this commitment to organize a new OSCE summit in 2025, a summit that would discuss and implement a genuine security agenda for all Europe, respecting also the needs and wishes of Russia.
“Finland, like Sweden, has traditionally played a strong role in promoting peace, dialogue and mutual respect. This role needs to be maintained and strengthened. There is an urgent need for respected non-aligned states to mediate. We therefore sincerely hope that Finland – like Sweden – will meet the expectations of all people uniting for peace and understanding around the world and will not join NATO before the results of the new OSCE Summit are known, in the spirit of 1975,” reads the letter signed by Ulla Klötzer and Lea Launokari.
“People working for peace and the survival of our planet at a time of growing global social injustice, climate change and climate-related disasters are in dire need of strong signals from the political elite that our fears and hopes are being taken seriously,” the address said.
Earlier, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said it was difficult to predict when the country would join NATO because the alliance states, including Turkey, had expressed their doubts on the matter. According to experts, Biden wants Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic bloc as soon as possible in order to boost ratings and present it as his geopolitical victory. However, the accession of these two countries to the alliance may not happen as quickly as the White House leader expects, analysts said.
Previously, Croatian leader Zoran Milanovic decided to send a letter of instructions to the republic’s ambassador to NATO, Mario Nobilo. It says the country is ready to vote against Finland and Sweden joining NATO until its conditions are met. This was reported by the Croatian newspaper N1.
The president of Croatia cited the example of Turkey, which recently decided to block the accession process of new countries to NATO and put forward its conditions. Erdoğan, according to Milanović, “knows how to stand up for his national interests”.
In addition, the Green Party of Sweden opposes Sweden’s entry into NATO
Tasnim reports: Sweden should refrain from joining NATO even if Finland decides to join the alliance, said Marta Stenevi of the Swedish Green Party.
The Green Party, which holds 16 seats in the 349-seat Swedish Parliament, “closely followed the debate in Finland” on NATO membership, but the Helsinki decision will not force the party to abandon its position on the alliance, Stenevi told Swedish Radio.
The Ukraine crisis has provoked widespread debate in Finland and Sweden on giving up decades of neutrality and joining NATO amid a changing security situation in Europe. Over the past two months, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin have launched high-level discussions, both at home and abroad, on the conditions and consequences of applying to join NATO. Their official decision is expected by the alliance’s June summit in Madrid.
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