The Finnish Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee decided on Friday that ratification of a crucial treaty on the deployment of Nato troops in Finland will require approval from a supermajority of MPs across party lines.
The powerful constitutional committee ruled that two-thirds of MPs must approve Finland's joining the treaty. Finland must do so within a year of becoming a member of the alliance – in other words by early April.
Nato's Status of Forces Agreement (or Sofa) sets out the terms under which armed forces of a Nato member state are allowed to operate in other Nato countries.
According to constitutional committee chair Heikki Vestman (NCP), a qualified majority is required because the pact includes clauses that conflict with the Finnish Constitution. These include the right of another Nato country to exercise jurisdiction in Finland, such as the right to take measures to guarantee order and security.
Sofa outlines legal procedures that would cover situations where Finland either sends or receives troops to take part in Nato operations. These include entry formalities, the right to bear arms, the use of judicial power and the right to damages.
The committee, which includes members from seven parties, decided unanimously that approval of the agreement will require the larger-than-usual parliamentary majority.
"This same assessment was included in the government's presentation," Vestman told Yle.
Could US forces carry out an execution on Finnish soil?
One of the controversial issues is capital punishment, which is prohibited by the Finnish Constitution and the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The US is the only Nato member state that still allows the death penalty, after Latvia abolished it in 2012. Non-Nato member Belarus is now the only European country to use capital punishment.
Vestman said that the committee followed the same policy regarding the death penalty as it did in 1997, when Finland approved a similar Sofa treaty to join Nato's Partnership for Peace.
"The committee looked at possible situations where another state might exercise judicial power and impose capital punishment on Finnish territory," he explained.
Under the government's proposal, Finnish authorities would refrain from assisting in any situation where an execution might be imminent.
"But even the formal possibility of this led to a conflict with Article 7 of the Finnish Constitution," Vestman added.
Each new member state's parliament must approve Sofa within a year of joining Nato. Finland became a member of the alliance on 4 April 2023.
Last January, the Constitutional Law Committee decided that Parliament could decide on Nato membership by a simple majority. Last March, the legislature greenlighted the Nato treaty by a vote of 184–7.
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