Statement by President von der Leyen with Finnish Prime Minister Orpo

Thank you for your warm welcome to Helsinki, and for showing me the Turva. This ship is a powerful symbol of Finland’s preparedness – as you just said you are prepared, ready to deter threats and to defend European interests at sea. Finland has always lived next to a dangerous and unpredictable neighbour.

Putin has not changed; he is a predator. It was impressive for me to hear that your border with Russia is 1,300 km. But I want to reassure you and Finland that it is not only Finland’s border, it is also Europe’s border very clearly. And therefore, it is our shared responsibility to protect it. That is why, in our proposal for the next modern EU budget, we are tripling investment in migration and border management.

Member States with a direct border with Russia and Belarus will receive additional EU funding. Also to support the livelihood of the border regions where it is also so important to invest. I also want to remind that cohesion policy will remain at the heart of our budget, and I can recommend using the new flexibilities of the cohesion funding, not only for border protection but also to develop the border regions. So, we continue to support both, border security and strong livelihoods.

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Source: European Commission