Press releases, 21.4.2006

Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy

Government Communications Unit

Press release 130/2006
21.4.2006




On Friday, 21 April, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the ongoing project to review the Government resolution on securing the functions vital to society, the Multinational Experiment 5 rehearsal and Finland's participation in the EU’s battle group cooperation.

The Committee agreed on the guidelines for completing the review of the Government resolution on securing the functions vital to society. The Security and Defence Committee is responsible for the project and will submit the proposal for a reviewed government resolution in early June 2006.

The Committee discussed Finland’s possibility to participate in the Multinational Experiment 5 (MNE 5) lead by the United States. The MNE 5 rehearsal concentrates on the development of multinational cooperation between authorities required in the management of broad-based security risks. The focus now is on crisis prevention, stabilisation and reconstruction. The Committee supported the continuation of preparations for Finland’s participation in the rehearsal as a joint project between the Ministry of Defence, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior. The decision whether Finland will participate in the experiment will be made later.

The German-Dutch-Finnish EU battle group will be in readiness during the first half of 2007. A review was given of the recruitment situation and the battle group’s training periods in Finland and abroad. The battle group to be formed together with Sweden, Norway and Estonia will be at standby during the first half of 2008. Personnel for this battle group will be recruited in 2007.

Further information: Pertti Hyvärinen, General Secretary, Secretariat of the Security and Defence Committee, tel. +358 9 1608 8210, Olli-Pekka Jalonen, Head of Unit, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 9 1608 8154 and Kimmo Lähdevirta, Head of Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5480