Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

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

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

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

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Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto stated the choice was no purpose to have fun because "there may be battle in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO won't change our fundamental considering that we'll all the time search peaceful options and we are a peace-loving nation that will at the beginning seek diplomatic options to every conflict," he said in the course of the debate.

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

"Our border would change into the border between the military alliance and Russia. New tensions would not be a risk only during the software process however somewhat a brand new and everlasting condition of our foreign and safety policy," he stated.

Early on Tuesday, the international affairs committee decided to affix the state management in proposing to parliament that the Nordic nation ought to apply for membership.

"Having heard a very massive number of specialists and having received the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the foreign affairs committee agrees with the federal 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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