Finnish Defence turns towards EU
The Finnish public is discussing the impact of the EU’s new Basic Treaty on the defence policy of the European Union. The Treaty might challenge the countrys neutrality.
Debate over the impact of the EU’s new Basic Treaty on the defence policy of the European Union is moving largely along different paths in Finland than it is in the rest of the Union, Yle reports. In Parliament there has been much talk about the sequence in which decisions would be made in practice on the obligation to provide aid. In other countries the focus of debate has been more on the impact that the assistance clause and the obligation to share responsibility would have on EU defence cooperation in general. In the Basic Treaty,which was ceremoniously signed in Lisbon in December, the EU is offered many different ways to develop mutual defence rapidly and to a significant degree, the Finnish news broadcaster reports.
