Europeans to take greater responsibility for NATO leadership, envoy says

NATO’s main responsibility for Europe’s conventional defence is shifting to European countries, Finland’s ambassador to NATO Piritta Asunmaa told Yle on Friday. She said Finland had taken its place in the alliance smoothly and was now an active medium-sized member.

Finland joined NATO in April 2023. Asunmaa said public support for membership remained strong, citing a poll published last spring in which 73 percent of Finns said they would vote in favour of staying in NATO. That was in line with the average across NATO countries.

According to Asunmaa, Finland had already been doing many of the things NATO now expects from all its members. Deterrence and defence had long been central to Finland’s security policy, she said, and had again become the alliance’s core functions.

Asunmaa, Finland’s permanent representative to NATO, leads a delegation of about 50 people in Brussels. Its staff come from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the Finnish Defence Forces.

She said NATO had changed significantly over the past three years as responsibility for Europe’s conventional defence shifted increasingly to European countries.

“Command responsibility in NATO is shifting largely to European countries, and Finland is part of this process,” Asunmaa said at the Päämajasymposium security conference in Mikkeli.

NATO presence expands in Finland

NATO’s presence in Finland is already visible in several ways. Mikkeli now hosts NATO’s Northern European land forces headquarters, which would command military operations across Northern Europe if necessary.

Asunmaa said the headquarters closely connected Finland to NATO’s collective defence.

“We are an important military actor in NATO, so it is natural that such a headquarters has been established in Finland,” she said.

NATO is also represented in Finland by its forward land forces, known as FLF Finland. Their activities are coordinated by a multinational headquarters component in Rovaniemi.

The force’s core is a Swedish battlegroup based in Boden, which regularly trains in northern Finland. FLF Finland also includes forces from the other Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain.

Asunmaa said it was important for the forces to train in Finland and become familiar with Arctic conditions.

A NATO command and control systems unit is also planned for Riihimäki. It will provide telecommunications and information systems services and is scheduled to begin operating next year.

European countries agree on new capabilities

At a NATO summit in July, the alliance made several decisions to strengthen collective defence. European member states agreed, among other measures, to acquire aerial refuelling aircraft and reconnaissance drones, and to create an alert system for airspace threats.

“NATO’s European countries face increasingly demanding capability requirements, and these requirements are being addressed,” Asunmaa said.