Stubb admits that Finland and Sweden would not be admitted to NATO at the moment

Finland and Sweden would not be able to become NATO members if they applied to join the alliance now. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said this in an interview with the Financial Times on January 23.

"If we applied for NATO membership now together with Sweden, I am not sure we would get it," Stubb believes.

The Finnish leader also expressed the view that the two countries' desire to join the alliance now could have been seen as a provocation.

However, he added that obtaining status in NATO membership happened very quickly, because the alliance realized that the countries are "a supplier of security, not a consumer of it."

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Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022. Finland officially became part of the alliance in April 2023, and Sweden joined on March 7, 2024.