Prime minister Petteri Orpo (kok) outlined on Saturday in Ylen’s Ykkösaamu that the EU could take on a new joint debt to finance defense. At the same time, Orpo emphasized that this is his personal opinion, the government does not have a position on the matter, at least not yet. At the same time, he set clear conditions for joint debt.
“My personal opinion is that we could use common European debt financing where Europe is being defended. It is being defended here in Finland, the Baltics and Eastern Europe,” Orpo pointed out.
The Prime Minister emphasizes that defense is “such an existential issue” that it cannot be compromised.
“Also through NATO, there will certainly be a demand to increase the allocations. Now these sums are so large that I personally think that European actions are also justified.”
“You have to understand the difference between Trump’s words and actions”
Petteri Orpo is not worried about the future president of the United States Donald Trump’s about tough speeches aimed at Greenland, for example.
Earlier in the week, Trump hinted at his own press conference in Mar-a-Lago that the United States could use military force to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal. In addition, Trump believes that Canada should be one of the states of the United States.
“If you think about these things, i.e. Greenland, Panama and Canada: you can find Trump’s agenda in the background. He wants to strengthen the position of the United States in both trade and security. Trump raises these issues in his own style, but I would like to reassure: from Trump’s first term, we remember that the speeches are tough and provocative, but the actions are not,” Orpo commented.
He reminds that Greenland is “a very critical place” for the United States, because the United States competes in the Arctic region with both China and Russia.
“You have to understand the difference between Trump’s words and actions, there is no armed conflict coming,” says Orpo.
Trump also demanded this week that NATO member countries should raise the share of defense budgets to five percent of gross national product. Orpo says he doesn’t want to go to an auction about percentages, but otherwise considers Trump to be right.
“Trump wants Europe to bear greater responsibility for its own defense and he is right: we need to get to a position in Europe where we are not dependent on US support.”
There is no need to activate Article 4
A summit meeting of NATO member countries in the Baltic Sea region will be held in Helsinki next week. Orpo says that he expects a “very strong view” from there that the security of the Baltic Sea needs to be strengthened.
Instead, the prime minister does not consider it necessary to activate NATO’s Article 4.
“That’s not the situation now, because we can operate on many fronts even within the framework of NATO without it.”
Article 4 of NATO reads as follows: “Parties shall consult with each other whenever one of the parties considers that the territorial integrity, political independence or security of one of the parties is threatened.”
Prime Minister of Estonia Christian Michal raised the article right after Christmas because of the cable damage in the Baltic Sea. In Finland, the chairman of the defense committee of the parliament presented the same thing Jukka Kopra (cook) already in November.