Finland’s Stubb: ‘If it was as much as me, there can be no Russian athletes at Olympics’ | EUROtoday

Issued on: 26/07/2024 – 18:10

While in Paris, Stubb is taking the chance to attend numerous Olympic occasions and cheer on his Finnish compatriots. But this 12 months’s Games have been overshadowed by geopolitics, with conflicts raging between Russia and Ukraine, in addition to within the Middle East. For Stubb, even the much-reduced variety of Russian athletes competing on the Paris Games is an excessive amount of. He says: “A lot of Russians are now understanding ‘why we are not in the Olympics’. So I hope that this puts pressure on Russia and Putin to stop this completely senseless war. If it was up to me, there would be no Russian athletes here. You have to pay the price.”

It’s not the primary time, after all, that politics has competed with sports activities on the worldwide scene. As Stubb factors out, the Games are additionally a chance to place battle to at least one aspect, and probably construct bridges with adversaries. “Politics is part of the Olympics,” he says. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It wants to brand itself as a peace movement. When I’m here, I meet about 140 heads of state and government from all around the world. So it’s a good opportunity to have a few battles on the track and field, nowhere else.”

As president of Finland, Stubb’s essential area of accountability is overseas affairs. Finland lastly joined the Alliance final 12 months, a transfer that Stubb supported regardless of home opposition. He explains: “I’ve been an advocate of Finnish NATO membership for the better part of 30 years. I was in a quite distinct minority”.

Given the current geopolitical situation – particularly the menace posed by Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,300 kilometre-long border and centuries of tense relations – Stubb believes that NATO membership is beneficial to both Finland and the Alliance. “Finland is safer and I feel the Alliance is secure. Remember that now we have one of many largest militaries in Europe. We simply doubled NATO’s border with Russia. We nonetheless have compulsory navy service. We have 900,000 women and men which have finished navy service. So we’re a really secure pair of fingers. Because of the dimensions of our navy, we’re a mid-sized energy within the Alliance. People anticipate lots from us, however it’s fairly clear that Russia now sees us very a lot on the enemy aspect as a result of we joined NATO. But I truly assume that we’re very a lot ready of power.”

Of course, the destiny of NATO is inextricably linked to the United States – and the outcome of the US election in November. Finland’s president underlines that Donald Trump did have an impact on NATO, especially when it came to ensuring each NATO member pulled their weight. “Trump … we at all times discuss him being so harsh on NATO, however he truly compelled most of the allies to succeed in a 2 p.c threshold of GDP in defence expenditure, as a result of in 2014, there have been solely three nations reaching that stage within the allies within the Alliance, and now it is 23.” Stubb adds that, whoever eventually wins the US election, he expects them to maintain strong ties with Europe, noting that “America needs to be the primary superpower on the planet. And to ensure that it to be so, it wants allies. And these allies come right here from right here”.

For the Finnish president, international cooperation is vital to push for an end in the Ukraine conflict – a prospect he considers is closer now than in the past. “We’re transferring slowly in direction of peace. I used to be on the peace discussion board in Switzerland just a few weeks again. Now we’re seeing President Zelensky beginning to discuss Russia being concerned within the peace course of as properly. I feel we have to get the Chinese concerned. We want to do that collectively”. However, the EU has struggled to impose a united entrance of late, with the EU establishments reacting angrily following a latest so-called Peace Tour carried out by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. With Hungary adopting the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU this July, Orban visited Kyiv and Moscow, in addition to Beijing and the US – including a further voice to the refrain of European diplomacy. For Stubb, “if you hold the presidency of the European Union, you are in no position to visit Moscow without the consent of others. […] There’s no space for Orban-like solo moves”.

Finally, Finland sits in an fascinating place relating to the rise of populist politics and politicians in Europe. Since final 12 months, its authorities has included a right-wing populist motion, the Finns’ Party. But through the European elections of this 12 months, the pendulum swung the opposite means, with average events sending a majority of MEPs from Finland to Brussels. Stubb, who has been a scholar of European politics for at the least three many years, sees trigger for measured optimism that the EU can push again. “The forces of regional integration are stronger than the forces of global integration,” he says. “So I predict that the European Union is going to continue to be strong and steadfast. Remember, it’s never perfect.”

Somewhat wryly, Finland’s president outlines his vision for how the EU functions. “You undergo three phases. First, you may have a disaster, then you may have chaos. And ultimately you get a suboptimal answer.”