Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja: The EU is the most important factor in Finland’s security and defence policy

Press Release 171/2004
20 August 2004


Excerpts from the speech given by Erkki Tuomioja, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, in Lohja on Friday, 20 August, where the Finnish Committee for European Security (STETE) arranged the seminar "Security Policy Report – Guidelines for the Future":

Finland’s membership of the European Union is today the crucial departure point underpinning our position on security policy. The Union’s role in world politics will continue to strengthen with the development of the common foreign and security policy, and also in crisis management within the sphere of the common security and defence policy. Indeed, the role of the European Union is central in the Government’s Security and Defence Policy Report to be issued in autumn.

The Articles on security and defence policy contained in the EU’s Constitutional Treaty gained everyone’s approval in consensus at an early stage. Before the Constitutional Treaty is ratified in the Member States, many questions need to be answered. As far as the Articles on foreign and security policy are concerned, however, it appears that immediate steps are being taken to apply most of them independently of the Constitutional Treaty’s ratification.

So long as the European Union is not a military alliance, an Article does not make a Member State a militarily aligned country, but it is also equally clear that the EU Member States are not neutral in a conflict involving a Member State.

The so-called security guarantee clause covers all EU Member States, and permanent structural cooperation for the development of crisis management resources is open to all. Finland has wanted to ensure that permanent structural cooperation takes a shape allowing us to take part, if we choose to do so. Of course, this active approach in the shaping of structural cooperation is in itself an indication of willingness in principle to participate.

Finland now needs to evaluate in detail all that structural cooperation would require of us, but it is not a particularly important question of resources. Participation in the EU’s fast reaction forces can be fit in with allocations currently meant for military crisis management.

The degree of political and moral commitment to participation in EU operations will increase. In future more convincing grounds than earlier will be required of us if we wish to withhold the use of Finnish forces for some operation when this is requested of us.

Finland must in future develop and increase the readiness to participate in joint civilian and military conflict management tasks. The importance of conflict prevention and civilian crisis management will continue to increase if the international community seriously strives to prevent various crises from erupting into open conflicts. For us, this shouldering of responsibility is an important factor increasing our own security.

Additional information: Susanna Parkkonen, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +35840 545 1275, and Elena Gorschkow, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +35850 586 9155