Policy|Security policy
Germany and Finland are united, among other things, by the fact that both have a significant share of energy imports from Russia.
Prime minister Sanna Marin (sd) and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will discuss in Berlin on Wednesday how countries can better support Ukraine in its defense against Russia. Other topics of discussion include the development of defense cooperation and EU economic and energy policy.
At a briefing at the beginning of the meeting, both praised the united front of Europe on sanctions against Russia. According to Marin, the sanctions are aimed not only at condemning Russia’s actions, but also at improving Ukraine’s position in the peace talks between Russia and Russia.
“Our task is to work together to ensure that Ukraine has the best possible negotiating position vis-à-vis Russia,” Marin said.
According to him, in addition to sanctions, the financial, humanitarian, material and armed assistance sent by Finland and Germany to Ukraine is also significant.
“Today we are discussing the need to continue on this path because Russia has not changed its behavior,” Marin said.
Mixed Marin and Scholz also raised the ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources as one of the key issues for discussion.
“It is a fact that we are financing the Russian war against Ukraine by buying fossil fuels,” Marin stressed the importance of the green transition.
Germany and Finland are united, among other things, by the fact that both have a significant share of energy imports from Russia. Germany has taken a different line in its energy policy from Finland and will stick to its intention to close the country’s last three nuclear power plants by the end of this year.
When asked about his message to Russia, which imports a lot of fossil fuels from Russia, on Wednesday, Marin replied that he was confident that Germany would be part of the EU’s common front to break away from fossil fuels.
Scholz, for his part, said it was no longer a question of whether fossil fuels should be phased out, but of how quickly it could be done. He stressed that the goal can be achieved despite the fact that this is the biggest upheaval in the industry “in more than a hundred years”.
From Marin The press conference also asked about the timetable for Finland’s decision whether to apply for NATO membership.
Marin responded by stating that a parliamentary debate on the subject will take place in Finland this spring. In his reply, he emphasized Finland’s foreign and security policy tradition of striving for maximum unity.
Russian the war of aggression led Germany to make significant changes to its long-standing foreign and security policy.
Among other things, Germany approved arms aid to Ukraine and plans to make a substantial additional contribution of EUR 100 billion to its defense budget. Defense spending is set to rise to 2% of GDP.
Germany and Finland have also traditionally sought to maintain effective relations with Russia, but at the latest, the war in Ukraine changed their relations with the East decisively.
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