During Sanna Marini’s visit to Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas emphasized that NATO’s door is open to Finland. Even if membership does not materialize, mutual military co-operation will intensify.
TALLINN As expected, the war in Ukraine became the top topic of discussion when the prime ministers Sanna Marin and Kaja Kallas met on Monday in Estonia.
Both said that the security situation in Europe had changed completely.
There was more on the agenda of the meeting, but Estonians were only interested in one thing. It was summed up by the reporter of the Estonian Broadcasting Corporation in the first question of the press conference.
– When will Finland join NATO?
In Estonia, there has been even a slight disappointment that the president Sauli Niinistö The visit to the United States did not produce any notification of NATO membership.
Estonians are confused by NATO stalking
The twists and turns of Finland’s security policy in a southern neighbor accustomed to clear choices may not be understood until the very end.
Finland’s speeches on European defense co-operation in particular sound strange: NATO already exists.
Estonia does not want to put pressure on Finland to join NATO. However, Estonians feel that a window has opened up for Finland’s NATO membership in the same way as for Estonia’s independence during the 1991 coup attempt.
Even if membership does not materialize, mutual military cooperation is likely to intensify further. You no longer have to think about what your eastern neighbor thinks about it.
Among other things, co-operation between Estonia and Finland has a strong potential in cyber security. This was also emphasized at Sanna Mari’s press conference.
Energy dependence on Russia is a common concern
In addition to military co-operation, energy dependence on Russia is a common concern of Finland and Estonia.
On the energy side, Estonia is more proactive. On Monday, Kaja Kallas listed many practical proposals.
– Investments in renewable energy, including wind farms. Hopefully, the Estlink 3 power transmission cable will be completed by 2030, Kallas said.
Estonia is also interested in a “gas solidarity agreement” with Finland. It would allow countries to supply each other with gas in the event of a disruption or insufficient supply of Russian gas.
Former third ministers in third order Anne-Mari Virolainen and Jaak Aaviksoo have been working for a year, but right now the report is helpless in the footsteps of the security situation.
One of the topics of the study is the declining role of the Finnish language in Estonia and the deficient position of the Estonian language in Finland. The study itself turned out to be ironic, for example.
It was written and published in English.
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