Speeches

Mr President, in accordance with Rule 60(4), I request that the file be referred back to the committees responsible for interinstitutional negotiations.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the report we are voting on today updates the decision establishing the Standing Forestry Committee. For decades, this forum has ensured that the Member States' knowledge and experience are taken into account in EU policy making. Throughout these negotiations, our goal has been to update what is necessary while focusing on the most important point: we need cooperation between the Member States and the Union, not further centralisation of power in the Commission. Subsidiarity, together with the practical knowledge of our forest owners and professionals must remain at the core of our decision making. We have found a balanced compromise that strengthens this cooperation. Even though forests are linked to several EU policies, management remains a national competence. The Standing Forestry Committee helps the EU and the Member States work together constructively on these shared objectives. I want to thank the shadow rapporteurs and all colleagues who have worked on this file. Let us keep first legislation practical, balanced and respectful of national competences. Therefore, I invite you all to support the report in the final vote.

Madam President, dear colleagues, even after these recent violations by Russia, some people say that we are not at war with Russia. This is true. However, Russia is at war with us. This is not me saying this; it's Putin himself saying so. Russia has waged a hybrid war against us, and it has prepared for conventional attack against us for over 15 years, constantly increasing its efforts to destabilise us. And to those who suspect GPS jamming coming from Russia, well, come to Finland. We can show it. Why would they stop when there is no attribution? No price, just rewards for its actions against us. In stopping Russian attacks, the 'drone wall' is good, but attribution is better. Russia won't stop before it pays for its crimes. Let's put that price to Russia. Let's stop the shadow fleet for good. Let's take the Russian frozen assets to support Ukraine. Let's increase sanctions also to the third countries supporting Russia. That is the only language that Russia understands and the only way to stop its attacks.

Madam President, dear colleagues, I totally agree with Commissioner Kallas in her very wise words. Europe is not safe before Ukraine is safe, and to safeguard Ukraine's safety and freedom, it is crucial that Ukraine can join the EU. Even though Ukraine is fighting existential war to survive, it has been able to take big steps towards its future EU membership. It is extremely important that this positive development can continue, that we stay on our course to accept Ukraine to the Union as fast as possible when Ukraine is fulfilling the requirements. At the same time, we have Member States like Hungary which are working with Russia to sabotage and prevent Ukraine's EU integration. This is totally unacceptable. EU Parliament, Commission and Council must use all tools and pressure to prevent Hungary or any other Member State to sabotage our joint future with Ukraine. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, High Representative, dear colleagues, we all know that the threat of Russia is acute and that time to prepare our defence is short. We also know that we are too weak and need to be stronger. Some people claim that investing more in our defence will ruin our welfare. That is a clear lie. NATO countries used, before the end of the Cold War, for decades around 4 % of their GDP on defence, some even more. Germany used to have 2 500 main battle tanks plus 1 500 in reserve. Now they have less than 300. Holland had 450 tanks, now zero. But still NATO countries were able to build the base of the Western welfare system we all enjoy today. To say that we can't afford to invest in our defence is a lie. We can do both defence and welfare, as long as we are wise and focused on how we use our money. What we can't afford is to lose thousands of people and rebuild our societies if our deterrence fails. Russia is an aggressive, imperialistic dictatorship which will threaten Europe even after Putin is gone. Now it's time to be strong, not weak. Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Thank you for the good question. I think we are living in very dangerous times, and this won't end in one year or two years, or not even in President Trump's term, it will continue for decades. So Europe has to grow up and be strong – both economically and militarily – so that we can take care of our own independently, hopefully with good cooperation with the United States some time after Trump's term. But if not, we still have to be able to do it independently. We have people, we have money, we have innovation. We can do it.

Madam President, dear colleagues, some people in this plenary question the need for defence investments. Either they say that we should try diplomacy or that Russia is not a threat – both are wrong. Russia has broken the Minsk agreements and other agreements hundreds of times and it is well recorded. We can't trust Russia. Diplomacy won't work. Those who say that Russia is not a threat normally come from countries that has not been attacked, occupied, raped and pillaged dozens of times through history like Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and many other countries have. Don't lecture us about peaceful Russia, we know better! Europe has finally – after decades of inaction – started to take the right steps towards our security and defence. Let us continue on this path. I have three children, all in the Finnish army reserves, ready to defend us all. I want them to be properly equipped to do that. We must and we can afford to do that. Otherwise, saying that is not true, it is a lie. And to those who claim that Russia's defence budget is much smaller than Europe's, please Google purchasing power parity and the Russian defence budget – you will be surprised.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the war in Ukraine is now in a crucial phase. Ukraine is under great pressure, but Russia is not about to win this war. However, Putin seems to think so. Therefore, we need to act decisively to prove him wrong. The Russian army is exhausted and its economy is weakening. Now it's time to support Ukraine by funding its defence industry, which is capable to produce material worth over EUR 20 billion annually, but it is currently funded only to 30 % of its capacity. And we need to hit Russia's economy, for example, by stopping its shuttle fleet, which is used to fund this war and is threatening our seas with environmental catastrophe as we speak. These kind of actions are needed to force Russia to the negotiating table on Ukraine's terms, not on Putin's terms. Ukraine needs peace and security against new Russian aggression. Here, those who worry about the money are selfish, those who talk about diplomacy don't know Russia. Russia respects only force and now it's time to use it. The time to act is now. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear colleagues, we are living in dangerous times where dictatorships like Russia challenge our democracy, not only with military means but also with hybrid warfare. Because of that, we need to understand that we need both security and defence. Investing billions in defence is useless if the dictatorships break us from the inside by breaking our unity and democracy with information operations and by destroying our civilian infrastructure with sabotage and cyber attacks. As an old soldier, I know how important military defence is. I also know that building military defence is relatively easy. We all have defence forces. It is easy to build them so that they are bigger and stronger. But building security against hybrid warfare and improving the resilience of our civilian society is much more demanding. Nevertheless, we shouldn't avoid doing so just because it will be difficult and expensive. Locking the front door does not help if the back door is open. We need balanced, 360‑degree security and defence to secure the whole EU, our democracy, our societies and citizens. And the earlier we start, with adequate resources, the better.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, as we have heard, Russia is waging hybrid war against us all, in this case, by using its shadow fleet and other maritime actors to destroy our undersea infrastructure and to threaten us with ecological catastrophe. We have now heard about many different defensive actions taken to prevent these attacks in the future. However, let's keep the eye on the ball and at the root cause of these attacks, the Russian illegal attack on Ukraine. Russia uses the shadow fleet to avoid EU sanctions and to fund its war in Ukraine, plus to punish us for our support to Ukraine. We need to stop this for Ukraine and for ourselves. But let's not fool ourselves: these attacks won't stop by surveillance and defensive operations. These actions stop when Russia is made to pay for its crimes. We need to lower the price restrictions on the Russian export oil to USD 50 per barrel or even lower, and we need to stop the whole shadow fleet, using many different methods mentioned here, and not only around one sixth, as we have done so far. Inaction and lack of punishment just empowers Russia. Making Russia pay stops it. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia's illegal and brutal attack on Ukraine has now continued almost eight plus three years, and it has and will continue as long as we accept and allow it to happen. We have constrained our actions against Russia's economy and our support to Ukraine, because we have been afraid of the escalation of the war. And now, Russia has brought not only North Korean artillery and ammunition and ballistic missiles to Europe, he has brought also North Korean military forces to Europe. An Asian nation is now participating in Ukrainian war. Putin has escalated this war to a world war. And remember: he started it, not we. We do not have any excuses anymore. Therefore, we need to punish Russia with proper sanctions and support Ukraine more, so that Ukraine can have peace on its own terms, not on Putin's terms. If we don't do it and instead feed the dictator, we will have a new war in Europe in a few years. And yes, that time it would be our children fighting the war. To my colleagues in the left and right, I have three children, and they are all in the Finnish Defence Forces' reserves. Even though they are ready, I do not want them to go to war. The best way to prevent this is to stop Russia now by forcing Putin to negotiate on Ukraine's terms. Putin will not be stopped with diplomacy. He will be stopped by force. Trust me, we Finnish know Russians better than most of the Europeans. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia funds its continuing illegal attack against Ukraine by selling oil and gas. This year, it is estimated that Russia exports around 240 million metric tonnes of oil, worth about USD 240 billion, an increase of about 5 % compared to 2023. Almost half of the Russian Government's income is based on oil and gas revenue. In addition, a lot of this oil is exported using Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet'. Last year, around 330 of these shadow tankers – rusty single hull ships without adequate insurances – sailed through the contested and ecologically vulnerable Baltic Sea and now some of these have stopped using AIS data, further increasing the risks. This is not only a way for Russia to fund its criminal war, it's also an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen. For these reasons, we need to take action to stop the Russian shuttle fleet as soon as possible. And we just heard from Mr Reynders that there is a wide range of tools for this. Let's start using them. At the same time we see that the EU sanctions don't slow down Russia's capability to continue the war fast enough. One big reason being that Russia is able to bypass the sanctions through third countries. Moreover, our own companies often help this to happen. Making money is more important to some than preventing dictatorship killing innocent people. Many companies try to escape their responsibility with lame explanations about not knowing where their products products end up. The EU needs to find ways to prevent these activities by taking third countries under sanctions, and by working with Member States in finding out ways to stop businesses to support Russia.

Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia is a dictatorship that is currently too weak to threaten us by military means. Therefore, it uses hybrid warfare against us. We have seen how the number of Russian sabotage attempts, cyberattacks and information operations has increased drastically within a year. And that is a fact: not a matter of opinion about political views. Only luck has saved us from serious loss of life so far, as the case of flammable parcels in cargo planes showed last week. We need to defend ourselves better. As the war in Ukraine drags on, these kinds of activities will continue to grow. Moreover, why wouldn't they grow? There is no attribution to Russia: as long as there is no price for the ill deeds of Russia, there is no need for the Kremlin to slow down. Yes, we need to improve our internal security and resilience. However, we need also to start to think how to punish those countries and actors that conduct or support these attacks. Russia uses all kinds of proxies for its activities, including social media platforms and third countries. We need to put a price on those hostile activities in the form of economic sanctions and other forms of restrictions. Otherwise, the hybrid attacks will continue to grow, especially when other authoritarian countries copy these practices. We have already seen how Iran is increasingly using Russian tactics in information operations against us. You won't win wars just by defending – not even hybrid wars.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, free movement of people within the EU and Schengen Area is based on trust. Trust that the Member States take care of our common security by honouring the rules and regulations that we have agreed to follow. Now, Hungary, whose leadership is doing its best to support President Putin and his war against Ukraine, is breaking this trust and is opening a door to Russian operatives to Europe. Yes, we do have an illegal immigration problem in Europe, but at least they are not trying to burn down our defence industry installations or prepare attacks on military bases or attacks against European politicians, etc.. Hungary's explanations in this matter have been delayed and vague. Therefore, we need to take necessary measures to protect ourselves, including studying the inner border controls and other measures. Appeasing dictators is wrong. Appeasing people, supporting dictators would be equally wrong. And before any of my distinguished colleagues questions my knowledge about the issue, I served almost four decades in the Finnish Defence Forces and retired as the Director of Military Intelligence. I know the threat.