Stubb’s joke made Macron laugh, but the situation is serious

“Dear Emmanuel, I am trying to speak French, which is not always easy for a northern barbarian who speaks French like a Spanish cow.”

With such relief, the President of the Republic Alexander Stubb started his part at a press conference at the Élysée Palace on Monday, getting the French president standing by Emmanuel Macron to smile.

Despite the friendly atmosphere, the event held in the winter garden of the Élysée Palace was strange. It resembled a Chinese press conference where reporters are not allowed to ask any questions. The choreography of the event was reportedly created by the French. In any case, Stubb was heard speaking fluent French at the Élysée Palace, confirming that Emmanuel and Alexander are on good terms.

Officially, the topics of the meeting were bilateral relations between Finland and France, Russia’s war of aggression and peace negotiations, and the security policy situation in Europe and the Arctic region.

The press conference did not hear the “certain announcements” previously promised by Élysée sources, except that both presidents said that France and Finland have decided to start discussions to sign a strategic partnership.

According to information from Kauppalehti, attempts have been made to start the strategic partnership between France and Finland at the level of the foreign minister, but on Monday, to promote it, the seal of the French president was obtained, which usually starts to speed up issues that get stuck in the bureaucracy.

According to President Macron, key areas in bilateral cooperation between Finland and France are defense and security, energy and nuclear power, artificial intelligence and quantum technology, critical minerals and metals, and global challenges.

The French are also increasingly interested in the Arctic region. They want to cooperate and learn from Finland.

The fate of Ukraine

The meeting of the presidents took place a day before the “dread of the terrible day”, as President Macron described the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which will mark four years on Tuesday.

Macron revealed at the press conference that President Stubb will travel to Ukraine on Tuesday, where the President of the European Council will also be heading, among others Antonio Costa and President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

In his speech, Stubb reminded that Russia’s destruction of Ukraine did not begin on February 24, 2022, but began already 12 years ago with the illegal occupation of Crimea.

President Stubb emphasized that the war in Ukraine is a loss for Russia both economically and militarily. According to the president, Russia cannot win the war, but it does not want peace.

“I think Putin can’t win this war, but he can’t make peace either. That’s his current dilemma,” Stubb said.

Stubb and Macron emphasized the importance of Russian sanctions as a means of putting pressure on Putin. In this regard, the EU is once again powerless, especially in front of pro-Russian Hungary, which does not intend to accept the sanctions package until Ukraine allows the flow of oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia. In addition, some EU countries still had reservations regarding the maritime service ban for tankers transporting Russian oil.

The EU’s foreign ministers tried to find an agreement on the sanctions package on Monday in Brussels, but there was no result.

According to EU sources, an agreement is not expected to be found right away, in which case the EU leaders will have to travel to Ukraine on Tuesday with empty hands regarding the Russian sanctions.

Monday “wasn’t the best day” for Europe, one meeting source said after the meeting of foreign ministers.

However, President Stubb assured in Paris that he still believes in Europe.

“I know very well that Europe will never be perfect. We proceed in three stages: the first is usually a crisis, the second is chaos and the third is finding an imperfect solution.”

According to Stubb, we are now living in “Europe’s moment”, which has been created by the pressure created by Russia and the president Donald Trump’s as a result of the actions of the US administration led by

“I believe that we are now building a Europe that is bigger, but at the same time more flexible,” Stubb said on Monday in Paris.