Prime Minister Marin Met German Chancellor Scholz: ‘Finland is Speaking About the Security Guarantee with Big NATO Countries’
The discussions at the meeting focused on the changed security situation in Europe.
GERMANY—Prime Minister Sanna Marin (the SDP) participated on Tuesday in a meeting on the European security situation at the castle retreat of Schloss Meseberg near Berlin at the invitation of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also attended the event. After the retreat, the prime ministers of Finland and Sweden had a bilateral meeting in Berlin.
In a press conference, Marin said to the Finnish media that Finland is currently actively speaking about the security guarantee with “big” NATO countries. The point is that should Finland decide to apply for NATO membership, military protection would be guaranteed during the application period. (Marin called this the grey period.)
According to Marin, Germany was particularly interested in the question of how Finland is preparing to address potential disturbance by Russia during the possible application process for NATO membership. Marin stressed to her German colleagues that Russia could direct similar disturbance to other countries when they are processing Finland’s application.
In her address to the Federal Government of Germany, Prime Minister Marin spoke about the security policy debate in Finland and the Finnish government’s views on the changed security policy situation in Europe.
“We had an excellent, confidential discussion. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the security policy situation in such a way that there is no going back to the way things were. NATO’s open-door policy is even more important now that Russia is trying to dictate solutions for other countries,” Prime Minister Marin said.
Source: finlandtoday.fi
