Finland's president calls on Europe to recognize divergent values with the United States. “We must openly admit that America is changing”
Finland's President Alexander Stubb said Europe must accept that the United States is changing and that the ideology behind the current US administration's foreign policy conflicts with European values. At the same time, he announced that Finland will update its security strategy.
Alexander Stubb, President of Finland/PHOTO: EPA/EFE
Speaking on February 4, Stubb said both Europe and Finland needed to take an “honest look” at the reality of an America in transition. “The ideology of the US administration, which underlies its foreign policy, is at odds with our values”he stated.
The statements come at a time when several European NATO member states, including Finland, are reassessing their foreign policies. The reassessment was accelerated by tensions that arose in January after US President Donald Trump caused friction with European allies over Greenland, a territory under Denmark's sovereignty, according to Reuters.
Stubb stated that Finland will update its foreign policy and security doctrine to reflect changes in the international environment. “We have to openly admit that the United States is changing. It's changing both the way it relates to allies and the way it conducts foreign policy,” he said, while stressing that the U.S. remains “an important ally.”
Reuters notes that the Finnish leader tried, in parallel, to maintain close relations with Donald Trump, in the hope of obtaining American support for Ukraine in the context of the Russian invasion and for strengthening the security of Finland, a state located on the border with Russia.
Finland's president listed several points of friction between European values and Washington's approach: undermining the existing international order, actions outside international institutions and diminishing Europe's role on the global stage.
Stubb previously rejected the idea that Russia would gain the upper hand militarily. He said he saw no evidence of a Russian victory and emphasized that President Vladimir Putin had not achieved the goals he set out at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
