It gives me great pleasure to be here at the University of Lapland, which, standing as it does on one of the northernmost points of the continent, embodies the great tradition of the European university, with more than 5 thousand students in undergraduate programmes and more than 3 thousand in master’s and postgraduate programmes dedicated to Art and Design, Education, Law, Social Sciences and, in particular, Arctic Studies.
I, therefore, would like to congratulate the Rector, Professor Syväjärvi, on this lively and dynamic university, and to thank him, together with all those taking part, for this very interesting panel discussion.
It will be hugely interesting for me to meet all the speakers, as it is now to share this stage with the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, who is here both as a politician and as an academic, but now more importantly as a statesman with a profound understanding of international developments, with their balances and imbalances.
In making this brief contribution to today’s event, I must confess that I feel honoured and at the same time a little overwhelmed. Many of those present have exhaustive knowledge of its subject matter, not only because you have chosen to study it, but also because it is a part of your daily life. Because Lapland, chosen each year by thousands of people seeking that connection with the essence of Finland –its nature, its ways of life, its traditions – is very close to the epicentre of a geopolitical game that will define –or is already defining– the future of Europe.
So, I would like to keep this very brief. I will structure this address around two ideas which I consider to be fundamental.
• The 1st is the interconnected nature of risks and threats. President Sauli Niinistö expressed this in a phrase which has become a kind of doctrinal rallying point on security and defence: “crises do not occur in silos.”
In this interconnected world —which, owing to its complexity, is often likened to the nodal structure of the human brain— everything that happens in each place on the planet has a direct, immediate and, frequently unforeseeable impact on many others. There are civil wars capable of disrupting global supply chains; natural disasters that create trade route bottlenecks; information technologies developed beyond the capacity of human control; hybrid threats that generate chaos long before their origin and intent become clear. Not a single country in the world is immune to these dynamics, meaning that we must be permanently on guard, adopting a 360º approach.
And what is true for the world —that global conception of risks and threats, inherent to our interdependence— is also true for Europe. In fact, even more so. It is true because of our geography, because of our history and –what is more important– because the European people would not have it any other way. Since the Treaty of Rome, we have adopted joint definitions not just of industry or markets, but also of our rights and freedoms, our concept of human dignity, our framework of peaceful democratic co-existence: that is to say, our present and what –I think we all here believe– ought to be our future.
Spain acceded 40 years ago to that project —the most ambitious, unique and exciting project to have been developed in the framework of the post WWII rules-based international order; Finland did so 10 years later. Our two countries lie at geographically opposed points of the continent. Our geographies are very dissimilar and throughout history our perception of threats has been too.
"...Both our countries understand that the process of building Europe entails understanding that we are substantially a form of political union with a single border; and that when any one Member State is attacked or under threat, so too is the Union as a whole...."
But both our countries understand —and we must celebrate this fact, Mister President— that the process of building Europe entails understanding that we are substantially a form of political union with a single border; and that when any one Member State is attacked or under threat, so too is the Union as a whole.
Allow me to insist on this point: in the current geopolitical situation, it would be overly simplistic, short-sighted even, to consider a crisis to be limited to the geographical location of events. That approach belongs to the past. Any threat to the southern flank is also a threat to the northern flank; a threat to the eastern flank is also a threat to the western flank. And vice versa.
That is why Spain’s Armed Forces are present in Latvia, Slovakia and Romania —and until a few days ago, were also present in Estonia. They are contributing to the air defence of the Baltic and the Black Sea; they are playing their part in protecting the northern flank in Iceland and participating in Allied exercises in the Arctic. And that is why we have offered for them to be present –as announced at the last NATO Summit– in the Forward Land Forces in Finland; in order to strengthen surveillance, deterrence and quick response in the Arctic region and the High North.
They are defending our border…, our sole border, our shared border.
And we have no doubt that any threat against what is called the southern border would be met with equal solidarity, determination and effectiveness by all Member States. And that Finland would be there too, helping to defend what is its own. Because our Union —trust in our Union— is our greatest guarantee of security. And we strongly believe in loyalty between true friends and allies, that as such share the same set of core values.
• I have now reached my 2nd point: how we should understand security and defence in changing geopolitical circumstances. Finland has experienced tragic, heart-wrenching events in its own history and knows only too well what it takes to assert one’s own sovereignty in a complex geopolitical space. Its location in the Arctic has shaped some of the main political choices that have defined it as a country, as a nation.
Spain is also located in a region of great geostrategic value: between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, between Europe and Africa. And its 20th century was also turbulent, in many ways traumatic, and delayed its full integration into the international community after the two World Wars. We have also faced geopolitical choices which have defined who we are, as a European country, as firm defenders of transatlantic ties, of the Mediterranean Dialogue and of the Ibero-American sphere. We are firm advocates of the rules-based international order.
This intense awareness that we, Spain and Finland, have of our place in the world, and of our role in it, is crucial at a time when geopolitics is changing; when traditional partnerships are under stress and being weakened; when democratic values and principles are being challenged; when multilateralism is in crisis; when traditional structures for cooperation are being called into question.
That is why we celebrate Finland’s membership of NATO, which remains our great framework of reference for European security. We celebrate it because we are utterly convinced that it makes us stronger. And mind you, I don’t think that should necessarily entail a diminished capacity nor legitimacy –quite the contrary– to continue playing a valuable diplomatic role as a discreet honest broker in many scenarios, both close and far.
Not only because few societies have Finland’s grasp of security and of preparedness against threats, nor that resilience –that sisu– which has shaped the culture and character of an entire country. But also because, by joining NATO, Finland is strengthening Europe’s voice and strategic autonomy in security and defence. Because, from a bird’s eye view, there is no possible contradiction between Europe and transatlantic ties: both are necessary, they support each other, and feed back into each other. They make us stronger in the defence of our principles.
I will finish, Mister President, ladies and gentlemen, with a quote from the great Sibelius: “Music begins where the possibilities of language end.” There is something of this in what I have attempted to express here today: beyond statements, agreements, international treaties, there is a harmony of values and principles, that shared understanding of the dignity of human beings which brings together all citizens of a united Europe as brothers and sisters.
And it is that moral heritage, that affirmation of what we are and what we aspire to be, that we, Spaniards and Finns, Finns and Spaniards, have undertaken to defend. And I am convinced we will deliver, trust us.