Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) said he told Emmanuel Macron that Finland was very interested in cooperating with the initiative, but added that a decision will be made later.
France has welcomed Finland to join its nuclear deterrence initiative, according to Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP).
Finnish news agency STT reported that Orpo confirmed the development on Wednesday evening after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Orpo met with Marcron in the French capital, as Finland chaired an OECD ministerial meeting this week.
Orpo said he told Macron that Finland was very interested in cooperating with the initiative. The PM added that he had agreed with the French president that Finland would soon receive more information about it.
After that, according to Orpo, Finland will discuss whether or not to join the initiative.
At the beginning of March, Macron announced that France would expand its nuclear arsenal and possibly deploy nuclear weapons-carrying aircraft to allied countries, which would be a first.
France currently has around 290 nuclear warheads.
Macron has said that France would gradually introduce an “advanced nuclear deterrent”. The move would allow European allies, among others, to participate in joint nuclear deterrence exercises.
Initial talks involved a group of eight countries, including Sweden.
According to a number of expert estimates, Macron’s announced changes to France’s nuclear weapons doctrine are the biggest in decades.
Minister: Deterrent key part of Europe’s defence
Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) announced in March that Finland was lifting its blanket ban on nuclear weapons imports.
Appearing on the Yle TV programme A-Studio on Wednesday evening, Häkkänen said he discussed the deterrent initiative plan with the commander of the French armed forces this week.
“The nuclear deterrent is a key part of Europe’s defense capability and also constitutes a major pre-emptive deterrent to possible Russian aggressive actions. Currently, it is based on the nuclear deterrent produced by Nato and the US, but the French now want to launch a French nuclear deterrent initiative that offers added value,” Häkkänen said.
A former Finnish defence minister, opposition MP Antti Kaikkonen (Cen), also appeared on A-Studio on Wednesday.
He pointed to France’s unique status in terms of its nuclear capabilities.
“France is one of the world’s few nuclear weapons states. France has around 300 nuclear warheads and France has traditionally wanted to keep these very strictly in its own hands,” Kaikkonen said.
He added that France has not directly put its nuclear weapons towards Nato’s nuclear deterrent, but in recent years — and particularly recent weeks and months — France has expressed a will to expand its nuclear weapons cooperation with willing allies.
Both Häkkänen and Kaikkonen were cautious about revealing too specific details, as information about nuclear weapons is highly classified.
Kaikkonen suggested that if Finland joins France’s nuclear deterrent effort, participation could come in the form of joint exercises.
“I don’t think that France, for example, is going to deploy nuclear weapons in Finland. On the other hand, Finland just made it clear that we don’t want nuclear weapons here in peacetime, so I think that’s out of the question,” Kaikkonen said.
