The Natio­nal Coali­tion Party’s group speech in Parlia­ment of Finland 17.5.2022 , MP Kai Mykkä­nen

Hono­rable spea­ker,

“The begin­ning of all wisdom is the acknow­led­ge­ment of facts.” Presi­dent J.K. Paasi­kivi used these words to desc­ribe foreign affairs on Inde­pen­dence Day in 1944, a few months after the end of the Conti­nua­tion War.

Today, the Parliament’s Commit­tee on Foreign Affairs consi­ders it a fact that no union Between states, which do not belong to NATO, is sufficiently strong. Inde­pen­dent agree­ments with the Member States of NATO would in times of inter­na­tio­nal war be super­se­ded by such Member States’ commit­ments towards NATO count­ries.  I believe that Presi­dent Paasi­kivi would also have favou­red the acknow­led­ge­ment of facts in today’s foreign affairs envi­ron­ment.

Dear collea­gues, Finnish people, in case of a proble­ma­tic situa­tion, we need a first-class defence commit­ment; second class promi­ses are not enough.

Hono­rable spea­ker,

In February, Russia set out on an unfat­ho­mable, horren­dous and uncont­rol­lable path. Russia’s choices and next moves have been impos­sible to unders­tand and cont­rol based on the logic that we have aimed to predict them with.

We lost faith in being able to cont­rol our Russia-rela­ted risk solely by diplo­macy and natio­nal defence. We must maxi­mise the mili­tary thres­hold to mini­mise the threat of an unpre­dic­table reac­tion. There­fore, most Finns set out to support joining NATO imme­dia­tely after Russia attac­ked Ukraine.

Ärade talman,

Säker­he­ten – eller brist på den – är odelad vid Bott­niska vikens kuster. Vår närmaste part­ner är Sverige. Vi förs­tär­ker varan­dra i denna histo­riska stund då vi tar ett steg till Nato­med­lems­kap hand i hand. Sveri­ges sak är vår. Och det är viktigt för oss att Finlands sak är också Sveri­ges.

The Presi­dent of the Republic of Finland refers to a strong­hold of the Nordic count­ries.  NATO members­hip does not close but opens doors to Euro­pean defence coope­ra­tion. The strong­hold of the Nordic count­ries borders in the south with Germany’s strengt­he­ning defence capacity. It is vital to keep Britain inclu­ded. Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO members­hip strengt­hens the Euro­pean pillar in NATO. In the end, it is also the best way of keeping the Americans inte­res­ted in Europe.

Hono­rable spea­ker,

While working in Russia, my unders­tan­ding grew that Russia’s percep­tion of Euro­pean nations is not solely about who is part of NATO and who isn’t. The atti­tude is more complex.

It is Russia’s choice whet­her it conti­nues to violate justice and human dignity. It shall then be judged for a reason. But, at the same time, there is space for various paths in terms of how we consi­der each other in neigh­bou­ring state matters. In conclusion, while we make our own solu­tions from the star­ting points of our own secu­rity, we do not move against anyone but instead in favour of secu­rity; I repeat: 

Сегодня мы принимаем решение не против кого-либо, а только ради безопасности Финляндии.

Hono­rable spea­ker,

Today’s histo­rical vote is not the end of somet­hing but a start of somet­hing new.

We have prepa­red for this day with excep­tio­nally good coope­ra­tion over govern­ment and oppo­si­tion lines. Today, the Natio­nal Coali­tion Party offers hand of coope­ra­tion for the rati­fica­tion period. Each one of us can promote each’s own Euro­pean sister parties’ unders­tan­ding of the purpose why we aim to join NATO. Finland is not joining NATO to consume passive secu­rity. We wish to acti­vely strengt­hen the common secu­rity of NATO count­ries. It is expres­sed here too:

Our mission is to partici­pate in strengt­he­ning NATO’s common defence, not to consume the secu­rity of our allies.

Today we open the door to a stron­ger Baltic Sea and the secu­rity of Nordic count­ries. Above all, we open a door for Finnish people to a Western union of jointly guaran­teed secu­rity.

When there are cracks in secu­rity, its impor­tance is high­ligh­ted. Finns have deci­ded to fill that crack.

As is the case for many others, both of my grand­fat­hers have fought in our wars for the inde­pen­dence of Finland. Honour to the sacri­fices of their gene­ra­tion. For that sacri­fice, the courage to speak out rose first in their front­line: never alone again!

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