Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

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

President Sauli Niinisto and the government determined officially 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 towards the applying, Speaker Matti Vanhanen said.

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Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto stated the decision was no cause to celebrate as a result of "there is struggle in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO will not change our primary pondering that we are going to always seek peaceable solutions and we are a peace-loving nation that may at the beginning seek diplomatic options to every conflict," he said during the debate.

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

"Our border would become the border between the military alliance and Russia. New tensions wouldn't be a threat only through the utility process however relatively a new and permanent condition of our international and security policy," he said.

Early on Tuesday, the overseas affairs committee decided to hitch the state management in proposing to parliament that the Nordic nation should apply for membership.

"Having heard a very massive number of experts and having obtained the opinions of 10 (parliamentary) committees, the foreign affairs committee agrees with the federal government that Finland should apply for membership in NATO. This choice 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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