If Finland and Sweden decide to apply for NATO membership, all allies of the defensive alliance would quickly welcome both Nordic countries, said NATO’s top civilian official. “It’s for them to decide of course, but if they apply, I expect that all allies will welcome them,” Jens Stoltenberg told a Wednesday news conference in Brussels. “We know that they can easily join this alliance if they decide to apply.” Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, announced on Thursday after meeting NATO foreign ministers in the Belgian capital that it will clarify the next steps in a possible NATO membership in the coming weeks. While Finland hasn’t expressed a strong interest in joining NATO for decades, a sudden U-turn in public opinion to apply for NATO membership shifted after an opinion poll last month by Finnish broadcaster YLE showed that, for the first time, more than 50 percent of Finns support joining the Western …