NATO – Theme: Relations with Finland

The path to membership

NATO and Finland have long shared common values. As one of NATO’s closest partners, Finland cooperated extensively with the Alliance for several decades, but the country did not aspire to become a NATO member. Finland’s partnership with NATO has historically been based on its policy of military non-alignment and a strong national political consensus, which NATO has fully respected.

Finland’s position changed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the biggest security crisis in Europe since World War II. After an extensive democratic process, Finland (alongside Sweden) submitted its official letter of application to become a NATO ally on May 18, 2022. On July 4, 2022, following the NATO Summit in Madrid, Allied leaders completed accession negotiations and signed the Accession Protocols of Finland and Sweden the next day.

Following the signing of the accession protocols, each country had “guest” status, allowing its representatives to participate as observers in allied meetings.

Over the following months, Finland’s Accession Protocol was ratified in the capitals of each of the then 30 Allies. Subsequently, Finland acceded to the Washington Treaty (or North Atlantic Treaty) when the country (represented by the Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs) deposited its instrument of accession with the United States government (represented by the US Secretary of State) at NATO Headquarters, making Finland a full member of the Alliance on April 4, 2023.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that NATO’s priority is that Sweden’s membership is also completed as quickly as possible. Once Sweden’s Accession Protocol has been ratified by all NATO member countries in accordance with their national procedures, the country will also become a NATO ally.

Key areas of cooperation

Finland’s cooperation with NATO as a partner has been mutually beneficial and included the following activities, most of which it continues to participate in as an Ally:

Strengthening capabilities and interoperability

• Finland participated in the PPP Planning and Review Process (PARP) and the concept of operational capabilities, two frameworks that help partner countries plan and assess the readiness of their contributions to NATO-led peace support operations.
• Finland has participated in NATO and PfP exercises and has declared various infantry, engineer, naval and air units potentially available for exercises and operations.
• Finland is participating in a strategic airlift initiative, namely the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) program.
• In 2017, Finland created the Helsinki European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. The center is open to participating states and supported by NATO and the EU.
• From 2014, under the Partnership Interoperability InitiativeFinland participated in the Interoperability Platform, which brings together Allies and selected partners who actively contribute to NATO operations.
• Finland and NATO signed a political framework agreement in 2017 for cyber defense cooperation. The country also participated in NATO Cooperative Center of Excellence in Cyber ​​DefenseNATO cyber defense exercises and cybersecurity-related “smart defense” projects.
• In July 2001, NATO officially recognized the Finnish Defense Forces International Center (FINCENT) as a PPP training center. FINCENT provides military crisis management training to personnel employed by international organizations such as NATO, the United Nations (UN) and the EU.
• Finland maintains close ties with other Nordic countries and participates in the Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO), a regional defense initiative that promotes collaboration between the Nordic armed forces.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (October 2021)

Support for NATO-led operations and missions

• Finland first participated in a NATO-led operation in 1996, when it contributed a battalion to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• From 2002, Finnish soldiers worked alongside allied forces in Afghanistan – initially as part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)which completed its mission at the end of 2014, then as part of the follow-up Resolute Support Mission (RSM) to continue training, assisting and advising Afghan security forces and institutions until its completion in September 2021. Finland has also contributed more than $14 million to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund.
• Finland supplies personnel to NATO-led army Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR).
• Finland also participated in the NATO Mission in Iraq (NMI), NATO’s advisory and capacity-building mission in Iraq.
• Finland participated in the enhanced program NATO Response Force (NRF) in a complementary role and subject to national decisions. Additionally, Finland signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Host Nation Support which, subject to national decision, authorized logistical support to allied forces located on or in transit through its territory during exercises or in case of crisis.

Wider cooperation

• Finland is committed to NATO Resilience Committee and cooperated with Allies on regional assessments, security of supply, protection of critical infrastructure and mutual support to deal with the consequences of a major accident or disaster in the Euro-Atlantic area.
• Finnish civilian assets have been listed with NATO Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC) and Finland contributed to the NATO preparedness expert pool. Finland also provided civil preparedness training to Allies and other partners.
• Other practical cooperation took place within the framework of Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Program, which focuses on activities related to counterterrorism, cyber defense, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defense, environmental security and advanced technologies. A notable example is Finland’s participation in the DEXTER program, which is developing an integrated system to detect explosives and firearms in public spaces.
• Finland has actively supported the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)and since 2008, it has developed successive national action plans in support of the WPS agenda.
• Finland actively supports NATO Trust Fund Projects in partner countries and has contributed to almost a dozen so far, including the Partnership Trust Fund, the Defense and Security Capacity Building (DCB) Trust Fund and the Comprehensive Assistance Program (CAP) for the Ukraine Trust Fund. This included projects for partner countries including shelters and generators, fuel and medical rehabilitation in Ukraine, as well as DCB projects in Georgia, Jordan, the Republic of Moldova and Iraq.