Finnish PM Would Back EU Joint Debt to Boost Eastern Defenses
- Prime Minister Petteri Orpo spoke in YLE interview on Saturday
- Orpo says not ruling out joint borrowing is his personal view
A stretch of fence under construction near a border crossing near Imatra, in southeast Finland.
Photographer: Roni Rekomaa/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said it’s his personal opinion that joint borrowing by European Union members shouldn’t be ruled out if the funds were deployed to bolster defenses on the bloc’s eastern edges.
“I don’t rule out the option — as a personal view given there is no government stance on the issue — of using common European funding, including debt, to build up defenses provided the money is used where Europe is defended,” Orpo said in an interview on state-owned broadcaster YLE on Saturday. “Europe is not defended in the south or the west. It’s defended here in Finland, in the Baltics, in Poland, in the eastern areas.”