OREANDA-NEWS Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto has met the foreign ministers of NATO member countries and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to him, the Finnish Defence League is ready to accept Finland's application for membership.

«An important NATO summit in Madrid is coming up in June. Of course, the question at the NATO end is whether Finland's and possibly Sweden's membership applications have been submitted before then», Haavisto answers the question from Iltalehti.

The politician says that NATO is also preparing the agenda for the meeting on the basis that Finland has submitted its application to the defence alliance during the spring. «There seems to be a readiness on the NATO end for membership applications to be submitted here», Haavisto confirms to media.

In his briefing, Haavisto explains that various NATO countries have presented Finland with their offers of security guarantees during the membership process. Another issue that came up is the question of many people and the idea that if you apply for NATO membership, it will take some months before all 30 NATO countries Finland and possibly Sweden have accepted.

«What kind of security assistance do you need during that period? This question is asked very actively, in other words, as if offering help and support, both diplomatic and purely security assistance», Haavisto says. The politician does not want to mention the names of the countries, but specifies that it is the large member states of NATO.

For Finland, it is estimated that the membership process would take some months. Estimates vary between four months and one year.