Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

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

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

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

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Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto stated the decision was no cause to celebrate because "there's struggle in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO will not change our primary thinking that we'll always seek peaceful options and we are a peace-loving nation that can firstly seek diplomatic solutions to each battle," he said through the debate.

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

"Our border would grow to be the border between the army alliance and Russia. New tensions wouldn't be a danger solely in the course of the application process but moderately a new and everlasting situation of our foreign and safety coverage," he said.

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

"Having heard a really large number of experts and having acquired the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the overseas affairs committee agrees with the federal government that Finland ought to apply for membership in NATO. This choice is unanimous," chairman Jussi Halla-aho told reporters.

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

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