Finland’s president has said his country joined NATO “at the last moment” and that staying out of the alliance for so long had been a “strategic mistake.”
Alexander Stubb made the comments at a panel discussion in Helsinki on Tuesday that focused on the prospects for peace in Ukraine and the White House’s recently published National Security Strategy.
In the context of the Trump administration’s shifting position on Europe and question marks over Washington’s commitment to NATO and European security, Stubb suggested remaining in the “grey zone” outside the military alliance would have been undesirable.
His remarks came as a public opinion poll in Finland showed that popular trust in the U.S. coming to the country’s aid in the event of conflict had fallen to 39%. In autumn 2023, shortly after Finland acceded to the alliance, public trust in the bloc stood at 42%.
America first
But President Stubb said at Tuesday’s event hosted by the Atlantic Council of Finland that the United States remains a guarantor of security, adding that the new security strategy, which signals a withdrawal from Europe to focus on American concerns, was a reflection of Trump’s ‘America first’ policy.
On the prospects for an end to the war in Ukraine, Stubb said peace is now “closer than ever” though he conceded that some of the most difficult questions remain to be resolved.
Chief among these he highlighted territorial concessions by Ukraine and the issue of security guarantees to prevent future aggression by Russia.
Stubb said Finland was among the countries offering to take part in post-war security arrangements for Ukraine but would not provide formal guarantees.
Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s finance minister and the former NATO secretary general, said at the event that Russia “remains a neighbor” and urged Europe to maintain dialogue with Moscow with a view to ending the war.
He also said arms control would be a subject for further discussion with Moscow.