Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

HELSINKI, May 17 (Reuters) - Finland's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly permitted a proposal to apply 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 decided officially 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 towards the appliance, Speaker Matti Vanhanen stated.

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Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the decision was no purpose to have fun as a result of "there may be warfare in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO is not going to change our basic pondering that we are going to at all times seek peaceful options and we are a peace-loving nation that will before everything search diplomatic options to every battle," he stated throughout 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 choice with a counter proposal leading to it being put to the vote.

"Our border would turn out to be the border between the army alliance and Russia. New tensions would not be a danger solely in the course of the application course of but somewhat a brand new and everlasting situation of our overseas and safety policy," he mentioned.

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

"Having heard a really large number of specialists and having acquired the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the overseas affairs committee agrees with the government that Finland ought to apply for membership in NATO. This decision 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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