Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

HELSINKI, Might 17 (Reuters) - Finland's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly authorized a proposal to apply for membership of the NATO navy alliance in a historic policy shift prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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

Of the 200 lawmakers, 188 voted in favour and eight in opposition to the appliance, Speaker Matti Vanhanen mentioned.

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International Minister Pekka Haavisto said the decision was no reason to rejoice because "there may be conflict in Europe".

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

Opponents to the applying included some lawmakers from the Left Alliance, part of Finland's five-party coalition, amongst them Markus Mustajarvi who challenged the choice with a counter proposal resulting in it being put to the vote.

"Our border would turn out to be the border between the army alliance and Russia. New tensions wouldn't be a threat only during the application process but quite a new and everlasting condition of our overseas and safety policy," he mentioned.

Early on Tuesday, the overseas affairs committee determined to hitch the state management in proposing to parliament that the Nordic country should apply for membership.

"Having heard a really massive number of experts and having obtained the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the international affairs committee agrees with the government that Finland ought to 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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