Europe needs to be much stronger to defend its values: PM

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Friday stressed that Europe and the European Union are still the best guarantee of security for citizens in an unstable global situation and said that Europe needs to be much stronger in order to defend its values. “Europe is the only structure that can safeguard what we believe in. Europe is not a project of the past. It is a project for the future,” the Premier said while speaking on EU policy at Aalto University as a part of the programme marking the Europe Day, said a government press release. Orpo pointed out that not everyone shares our values and that many are willing to use power politics to challenge the rules-based world order and said that Europe must not be naive about the current situation. “It is important for us to see the world as it really is – not as we want it to be. We have to be honest with ourselves. Those with military power and technologies are the ones who control the world. And that is exactly why Europe needs to develop those capabilities. We cannot defend Europe with values alone, we need the concrete ability to fight for them,” he said. According to Orpo, Europe needs to be stronger when it comes to the economy, competitiveness, security, defence and external relations. It also needs to be stronger internally, meaning in its decision-making and structures. With regard to EU integration, Orpo said that the EU should be prepared to move forward at different speeds. In other words, it should be possible for certain decisions to be made by smaller groups of Member States. “It is in Finlands interest to be involved in those areas where the EU is moving forward, be it defence, capital markets or critical raw materials,” Orpo said.