Finland and Norway plan to improve rail and road links between the countries for military use, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a briefing in Oslo during the state visit of Finnish President Alexander Stubbs.
“Cooperation on both road and rail connections for military use is underway,” Gahr Støre told a press conference on Wednesday (16 October).
Given that the border between Finland and Norway spans 700 kilometres, the Norwegian prime minister stressed the need for the two countries to discuss the implications for defence planning and infrastructure.
“We must not forget that Finland is like an island. We also need access to the north through Norway,” Stubb added.
The move is part of the EU’s Military Mobility Initiative, which aims to cut red tape, develop common standards, and identify routes between members of the initiative to reduce delays and facilitate the movement of troops and equipment.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, military mobility across Europe has become more important, as Ukraine’s allies have had to send all kinds of defence equipment across the bloc or from the other side of the Atlantic.
The EU’s military mobility scheme has turned into one of the EU’s flagship projects, with non-EU like the US, Canada, Norway, and the UK joining the initiative one after another.
Turkey has also expressed interest, but has not yet received the green light from all EU member states, as Cyprus has so far opposed Ankara’s participation due to the ongoing dispute opposing Cyprus and Turkey.
Switzerland is still considering wether to join the initiative.
NATO’s new kids on the bloc
According to Stubb, Finland can learn a lot from Norway, which has been a NATO member for a long time.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, with Finland joining in March 2023 and Sweden a year later, ending 200 years of military non-alignment.
“It is clear that from a military strategic point of view, our closest allies are Norway and Sweden”, Stubb said during the press conference.
According to the Finnish president, the three Nordic countries have a lot in common, adding that their defence minitries are currently working on what kind of defence entity they will develop.
Last month, Finland has asked Sweden to run NATO headquarters in northern Finland to bolster its defence against neighbouring Russia as Sweden expressed its desire to be a part of the consolidation of infrastructure and cooperation in the region.
Regarding the new NATO headquarters in Finnish Lappland, Norway’s prime minister said his country would send troops there although he refused to give a precise number.
Frozen neighbourly relations
Stubb and Gahr Støre agreed that relations with Russia will remain frozen for years to come.
“It is difficult to be optimistic that in the short term we will see a return to more normal cross-border cooperation [with Russia], as we had 10-15 years ago,” said Gahr Støre.
Stubb also outlined three factors that shape Finland’s assumptions about Russia: the continuation of its foreign policy based on the zero-sum game approach, its persistence as an authoritarian state, and the extent to which it has restored its military capabilities to pre-Ukraine war levels.
“However, this does not preclude the need to find ways to cooperate with Russia in the long term after the war is over,” Stubb also said.
Aurélie Pugnet contributed to additional reporting.
[Edited by Daniel Eck]
Source: euractiv.com
