Finnish, Polish PMs discuss border security, Ukraine

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Friday met his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Warsaw and discussed various issues including border security, Ukraine situation and bilateral relations between the countries, said an official press release.

At the press conference held after the meeting, Orpo underlined that Europe must make decisions fast to strengthen the security of Europe.

“We Europeans must take greater responsibility for own security. Finland and Poland understand this well, given our proximity to Russia. Finland joined NATO in April last year. We will further strengthen our own and our Allies’ defence and readiness,” Orpo said.

Prime Minister Orpo stressed that Europe must rapidly strengthen its defence industry and ramp up its ammunition production.

“This would enable Europe to continue its support to Ukraine. A strong national defence builds deterrence, ensuring the security of Europe as a whole,” said the Prime Minister.

“Finland has decided to double our ammunition production, I see a lot of potential for defence industry cooperation with Poland,” he added.

The Prime Ministers discussed the current border situation and Russia’s actions. The Finnish and Polish borders are under a hybrid attack where third-country nationals are ushered to cross the border. The situation at the border between Poland and Belarus has been going on for years.

“Finland is well prepared for hybrid influence activities, and we are working to further improve our preparedness,” said Orpo.

“It is evident that we need EU-level tools to prevent and manage situations where migration is instrumentalised against us. We see the situation in much the same light in Finland and Poland,” he added.

The Prime Ministers stressed the need to revitalise the EU’s external border regions. In Finland, this would mean Eastern and Northern Finland. Finland and Poland are facing similar challenges in this respect, and they intend to raise the subject of revitalising border regions at EU level.