(VOVWORLD) - The government of Finland has submitted to Parliament a draft proposal on the country's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
 Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. (Photo: NATO) |
Speaker of Parliament Matti Vanhanen said on Monday that Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee would wait for the ratifications by all the alliance's member states.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said at a press conference on Monday that Parliament would make the decision to adopt the North Atlantic Treaty by a simple majority vote. The law then will have to be signed by the Finnish President.
Finland applied for NATO membership on May 18 this year. On June 29, NATO leaders formally invited Finland to join the alliance. On July 5, NATO ambassadors signed Finland's Accession Protocol, which must be ratified by all 30 member states. Ratifications by Turkey and Hungary are still pending.