European defense funding spoke in Saariselkä – Giorgia Meloni: “Finland and Sweden must take into account the southern dimension”

Prime minister Petteri Orpo (kok) hosted a summit meeting in Saariselkä at the weekend, where the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia MeloniPrime Minister of Greece Kyriakos MitsotakisPrime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kalla discussed security and immigration policy. According to Orpo, special attention was paid to the security situation in the Nordic countries and the Mediterranean, as well as the immigration challenges of Southern Europe.

“The big picture in northern and southern Europe is the same: Europe’s borders must be secured,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.

According to Orpo, there was an order for the meeting of two southern and two northern countries and the EU’s high foreign policy representative.

“The countries of southern and northern Europe have been in different camps in the euro and financial crisis, but the unifying issues are now security and immigration,” he assessed.

Kaja Kallas spoke in the most direct way at the press conference and immediately stated in her first words that Russia is a threat to the security of the whole of Europe.

“In order to prevent war, the defense must be strengthened.”

Finance in focus

Kallas also brought up Russia’s various hybrid attacks in the discussion.

“Migrants are also exploited in them. We must also be proactive in which countries we accept migrants from. We have to protect the EU’s external borders.”

Kallas emphasizes that important decisions must be made about Saariselkä’s themes next year. According to him, the most difficult issue is funding, and this topic was also discussed in Saariselkä.

Italy’s Meloni and Greece’s Mitsotákis also highlighted funding.

“Personally, I would like flexibility in the EU’s budget discipline with regard to defense budgets, we should approach all solution models creatively,” the Greek Prime Minister said.

Giorgia Meloni pointed out that the home countries of the politicians gathered in Saariselka have often been on opposite sides in the EU negotiations: the frugal, so-called frugal countries and the countries of Southern Europe.

“Together we have understood that the world around us has changed and therefore we need to understand each other’s positions as well. Finland and Sweden must take into account not only the eastern dimension but also the southern dimension.”

“More than two percent”

The next president of the United States, who will take office in January, also came up in the questions of the press conference Donald Trumpwhich has demanded that Europe take responsibility for its own defense. According to Trump, the NATO countries should also increase their defense budget to five percent of the gross domestic product.

Greece’s Mitsotákis believes that NATO’s old two percent goal is history.

“I don’t want to guess a new number. We know that we have to spend more than two percent”, he commented.

According to Giorgia Meloni, who openly supports Trump, the most important question should not be what the United States can do for Europe, but what Europe can do for Europe.

“Ukraine should not be forgotten, but I personally want to hear more of Trump’s thoughts on the matter,” he said at Sunday’s press conference.

As expected, Meloni emphasized issues related to immigration at the press conference. His government is in trouble in Italy with the so-called Albania model. The most recent twist was seen on Thursday, when the Italian Supreme Court ruled that the Meloni government’s own definition of so-called safe countries of origin does not apply if it conflicts with the EU’s definition.

The Albania model has been on hold for weeks after courts ruled that Italy cannot return asylum seekers from Egypt and Bangladesh because their countries of origin are unsafe.

“I think that governments should have the right to define safe countries on a case-by-case basis. Tomorrow, Monday, we will discuss at the board meeting how we will proceed in the matter,” he answered a question from the Italian media on Sunday.

Orpo’s government is also following the developments of the Albania model with great interest, as Finland is considering a similar so-called Rwanda model.