Finland's parliament has unanimously approved legislation allowing the country to join Nato, increasing the country's chances of joining the transatlantic defensive alliance ahead of its Nordic neighbour Sweden.
Last year, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades of not taking military sides in a historic policy shift triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They submitted Nato membership applications and pledged to complete the process "hand-in-hand".
For both countries to be accepted, their application must be approved by all 30 existing members, and both applications are still awaiting approval from Hungary and Turkey. Turkey is objecting to Sweden's bid to join over claims that it harbours tourists.
After pushing for the laws to be passed before general elections scheduled for early next month in hopes of preventing a political vacuum, Finnish MPs voted 184 in favour of embracing the Nato treaties, with seven against and one abstaining.
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Although parliamentary approval does not guarantee that Finland will automatically join Nato once Turkey and Hungary ratify its application, the president must sign the bill into law within three months, limiting how long Finland can wait for Sweden.
Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, told reporters last week that he planned to sign the law "as soon as it was approved by parliament," but that if there were "practical reasons," he would wait.
Viktor Orbán, Hungary's nationalist prime minister, said last week that more talks were needed before MPs voted on the membership bids, accusing both countries of spreading "outright lies" about Hungary's democracy and the rule of law.
Turkey announced on Monday that talks with Finland and Sweden would resume on March 9th, after negotiations with Sweden were halted due to a disagreement over protests in Stockholm, including the burning of the holy book in front of Turkish embassy.
Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlüt avuşolu, said this week that Sweden had yet to fulfil its obligations under a memorandum signed last year.
