Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

HELSINKI, May 17 (Reuters) - Finland's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly accredited a proposal to use for membership of the NATO army alliance in a historic coverage shift prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Sauli Niinisto and the government decided formally on Sunday that Finland would apply for membership however the choice was pending parliament's approval.

Of the 200 lawmakers, 188 voted in favour and eight against the application, Speaker Matti Vanhanen stated.

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International Minister Pekka Haavisto said the decision was no reason to have a good time because "there's struggle in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO won't change our basic pondering that we will all the time seek peaceful options and we're a peace-loving nation that will at first search diplomatic solutions to every battle," he mentioned in the course of the debate.

Opponents to the appliance included some lawmakers from the Left Alliance, a part of Finland's five-party coalition, among them Markus Mustajarvi who challenged the decision with a counter proposal leading to it being put to the vote.

"Our border would grow to be the border between the military alliance and Russia. New tensions wouldn't be a threat solely in the course of the software process but moderately a new and everlasting condition of our overseas and security coverage," he stated.

Early on Tuesday, the overseas affairs committee decided to join the state leadership in proposing to parliament that the Nordic country should apply for membership.

"Having heard a really giant number of specialists and having obtained the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the foreign affairs committee agrees with the federal government that Finland should apply for membership in NATO. This choice is unanimous," chairman Jussi Halla-aho advised reporters.

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Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Robert Birsel and Alison Williams

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