Finland ready for NATO: defense official

Finland's armed forces are now compatible with those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and are ready to join the alliance if such a political decision were taken, a senior defense official said Sept. 2.

"The Finnish armed forces can now operate according to NATO's standards in a NATO operation," Pauli Jaervenpaeae, head of the political department in the Finnish military, told AFP.

"Technically we are in a position where we can join our forces with NATO," he said.

At the same time he stressed, however, that the question of Finnish NATO membership was a political one, and it was up to the government and Parliament to decide.

"If it were a positive (decision), the armed forces have no problems with that, in technical terms," he said.

Jaervenpaeae also pointed out that Finnish forces had participated in three NATO-led operations, in both the former Yugoslavia and in Afghanistan, with no interoperability problems.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Finns, who for decades lived in Moscow's shadow, have pursued a campaign to firmly anchor the Nordic country in Western Europe.

Finland joined the European Union in 1995 and later became a member of the euro zone.

Some Finns now think the country should also join NATO, arguing that it would then be represented in all forums that decide on the future of Europe.

However, recent opinion polls have indicated that 66 percent of Finns are against the idea of abandoning their long-standing neutrality and joining the defense alliance.

In preparation for possible NATO membership, the Finnish air force has bought a fleet of U.S.-made Hornet jet fighters, and the army is currently replacing its aging armory of Russian T-72 tanks with 100 second-hand German Leopards.

Finland is currently preparing for parliamentary elections in March next year, before which the government is not expected to broach the NATO question.