Moscow: NATO is considering expanding its headquarters in Brussels to find room for Finland and other potential future members, pan-European news website Euractiv reported citing NATO diplomats.
“Finland’s move into NATO’s headquarters will be completed in the coming weeks and months,” a NATO official said.
According to two unnamed NATO diplomats, a solution the alliance’s leadership considered is constructing an additional building on NATO’s campus, which could host the alliance’s international staff and agencies. This would be a “temporary solution.”
The expansion of the new headquarters with an extra wing, which was planned originally, would be only plan B, NATO diplomats said, adding that such a decision would be “too costly.”
Sweden, along with Finland, submitted its NATO application in May 2022, several months after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. Finland became a member of the alliance in April 2023. Sweden’s application is still pending approval from Hungary and Turkey.
