Stubb: Finland can have various views, not stances on foreign and security policy

THERE can be various views but only one official stance on foreign and security policy in Finland, President Alexander Stubb emphasised in Brussels on Tuesday. STT reported yesterday that the president was asked at a news conference about recent repo

By: helsinkitimes.fi

Oct 13 2024
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Stubb: Finland can have variou

THERE can be various views but only one official stance on foreign and security policy in Finland, President Alexander Stubb emphasised in Brussels on Tuesday.

STT reported yesterday that the president was asked at a news conference about recent reports about differences of view between cabinet members on participation in an alliance promoting a gender-inclusive recovery in Ukraine and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine.

Stubb admitted that both are difficult questions of identity politics but reiterated that there is no ambiguity whatsoever about the official stance of Finland.

“That stance hasn’t been questioned in any way at least in discussions I’ve had,” he was quoted responding by the news agency.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio (PS) decided that Finland would not participate in the alliance for a gender-responsive and inclusive recovery in Ukraine. Stubb has voiced his displeasure that he was not informed about the decision in advance, reminding that it also has a foreign and security policy dimension.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (NCP), in turn, has created friction among some members of the ruling coalition by aligning with a large majority at the UN by voting for declaring illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory of Palestine. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah (CD) expressed her dissent with the position at a recent meeting of the president and ministerial committee on foreign and security policy (TP-UTVA).

It is highly unusual for such a titbit to emerge from what are typically meetings that are kept carefully under wraps.

Stubb, who visited Brussels to meet both Mark Rutte, the new secretary general of Nato, and King Philippe of Belgium, also viewed that Russia remains the most direct and significant threat to Finland and Nato in Europe.

It seems that the country is waging two parallel wars, he added.

“One is about traditional warfare in Ukraine, where there appear to be no limits for violating international law and killing innocent people. And Russia’s other war is hybrid,” he said at a joint press conference with Rutte.

The president estimated that it is necessary to prepare mentally for intensifying hybrid warfare, the dissemination of disinformation and possible sabotage attacks. “That’s when it’s very important that we allies determine the facts, the offenders and then agree on a joint communication approach,” he outlined.

Stubb was the first head of state to visit the defence alliance’s headquarters under the term of Rutte.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT