Finland’s parliament votes yes to NATO

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

President Sauli Niinisto and the government determined formally on Sunday that Finland would apply for membership however the decision was pending parliament's approval.

Of the 200 lawmakers, 188 voted in favour and eight towards the application, Speaker Matti Vanhanen stated.

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Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto mentioned the decision was no cause to have a good time because "there's battle in Europe".

"Finland's membership in NATO will not change our fundamental considering that we'll all the time seek peaceable options and we are a peace-loving nation that will firstly search diplomatic options to every battle," he stated through the debate.

Opponents to the appliance included some lawmakers from the Left Alliance, 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 become the border between the navy alliance and Russia. New tensions would not be a danger solely in the course of the application course of however fairly a brand new and permanent situation of our overseas and security policy," he said.

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

"Having heard a really giant 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 instructed reporters.

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Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Modifying by Robert Birsel and Alison Williams

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