Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, the world's largest humanitarian crisis continues, and the world is looking away. In Sudan, 150 000 have died. Fifteen million displaced. Half of the population faces hunger. To look away is not only a moral failure, but also a strategic risk. Instability does not stay contained – it spreads. And we should name who benefits. Among them is Russia. Through Wagner and now Africa Corps, it fuels conflict, arms the Rapid Support Forces and smuggles Sudanese gold to finance its war against Ukraine. A Red Sea naval base remains the prize. Sudan's collapse is not only an accident on the periphery: instability is Moscow's business model. Sudan must remain on our radar. Letting the world's largest emergency become its most forgotten one is a choice, and one that is not without consequences.

Madam President, Commissioner, the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked for over a month, and the consequences are already being felt in our energy markets. Yet the headlines too often overlook the longer‑term consequences that are beginning to unfold. If this crisis continues into May, we are likely to face significant fertiliser shortages next year. That means higher food prices for ordinary families across Europe. Geopolitical crises are never isolated events. The decisions we make today, and those we delay, will shape living standards for years to come. The EU's response must therefore be coherent, strategic and firmly grounded in the long‑term interests of our citizens. Europeans cannot afford the cost of short‑sighted decisions. We must act responsibly, protect our next generation and ensure that our policies are driven by strategy, not by impulse of unreliable leaders from abroad.

Mr President, Commissioner, Russia is Europe's biggest security threat and yet there are those who think that we need to negotiate with the Kremlin. Wrong, wrong, wrong! You can't trust the Russian word. Moscow doesn't even defend its allies. At worst, it will attack those with whom it has a security agreement, such as in Ukraine. In 2023, it stood by when Nagorno-Karabakh was emptied. Now Armenia is looking to the west. The same pattern is repeated in Moldova and Central Asia: Russia's security guarantees prove worthless and every neighbor has drawn the same conclusion. This will enable a free Europe to have a strategic place. Europe must be able to act. The only way to negotiate with Russia is through actions, by showing that Europe stands by itself, by building connections and infrastructure without Russia, and by supporting democracy and partners. A stronger neighbourhood means a weaker Russia. Armenia has chosen, Europe must respond.

Mr President, the Arctic is no longer a frozen periphery; it is the next great arena for geopolitical competition and Europe is just waking up. Russia has militarised its Arctic coastline. China calls itself a 'near-Arctic state' and invests in it. And the United States, our ally, is openly coercing Canada, Denmark and Greenland. Canada shares our vulnerability and our interests in the secured Arctic front line. We need a dedicated EU-Canada Arctic framework on security. It is not enough; we need space capabilities, joint situational awareness and we need a real investment. Ice-breaking capacities, logistics and infrastructure across the High North – we are talking about tens of billions of euro. The commitment should be at geostrategic scale. The Arctic will be defined by whoever shows up. Europe must finally show up with its economic might, with Canada beside it.

Mr President, enlargement is geopolitical. Russia is not waiting. It is waging war in Ukraine and destabilising every country that wants to join us. In Georgia, it was successful and encouraged. Ukraine's place is in the EU, not as a protégé, but as a strong military power. As a country that has shown what the European backbone means. A rhetorical question for you, Commissioner: Could Orbán's Hungary be exchanged for Ukraine? But the membership process is designed for a time of peace. It's a war. We need creativity, flexibility and political courage to reform the whole model and create protection for democracy. The tool only works if you have the courage. Promises and years without action are Russia's best propaganda. Now is the time to act.

I think that the current agreement and the negotiations are not as comprehensive as they would have been with Mercosur. They are relatively thin and relatively narrow, with many fields that are left uncovered. It seems that is the trend of the day. That's the thing that we're going to actually, in this relatively dusty House, achieve. So we cannot make India change its nature. What we can do is to think about our self-interest, think about European citizens, think about the communities and families in Europe. We can seek mutually beneficial agreements with India because it is, after all, a democracy that has values when it comes to diversity. Its motto is based on a version of our own. So I would strongly recommend that you stop living in a wishful fantasy world and start actually thinking about the brute realities of the current situation.

Madam President, dear Vice-President Kaja Kallas, on this sad day, we have to look forward and focus on new partnerships. Enhancing ties with India is a strategic necessity. Let's stop pretending. The age of soft globalisation is dead – buried by Russian brutal aggression and Chinese and US unilateralism. We have learned the hard way that our dependency is not just a mistake; it may be a true economic suicide. If we don't diversify now, we are choosing to remain vulnerable to the next supply chain weaponisation. Realism demands we look at the map as it is, not as we wish it to be. India is a sovereign power that has its own interests, but their interests currently align with our necessities. They offer the demographic and industrial scale capable of breaking our addiction to more volatile markets. The foreign trade agreement with India is about geopolitical leverage and about ensuring that while Russia attempts to fracture the West, we are building a fortress of trade with the world's largest democracy. We can either negotiate from a position of strength now or beg for better terms when our current dependencies fail us.

Mr President, Commissioners, geopolitics is not limited to the Ukrainian front. We must therefore also turn our eyes to the northern Arctic region, where strategic competition is already taking place. In particular, it will determine the future of Finland, the Nordic region and also Europe. The Arctic is not a distant periphery. It is a strategic core region where Russia increases its military strength and where China expands its influence through economy, investment and technology, as well as by infiltrating the North Atlantic. As ice melts, new sea routes open up, and as sea routes open up, competition and geopolitical pressure will increase even further. Europe cannot afford to be a spoiler. For once, we can take the initiative. We need a clear, coherent and determined Arctic strategy: a strategy that protects Europe's northern backbone and strengthens our presence in the region. The Commission's previous proposal is unhelpfully outdated, because if we do not pay attention to the Arctic, we will leave our backs unprotected and deceive the key European Arctic countries, and if that region is subjected to harassment or pressure, its consequences will be felt immediately in our future, in our security and in our economy, and our geopolitical situation will be disrupted. The Arctic is the test of Europe. We have to act before anyone else does.

Mr President, Commissioner, we are now at a real turning point. We are not just careful observers, we are at the forefront of the fight in which Russia, China and Iran are trying to destabilise us with sabotage, electoral harassment, damage to critical infrastructure and even assassinations on European soil. The objective is the same: undermine our trust and break the backbone of democracy. We need to ressource and build a real European democracy shield: A shield that protects the freedoms of our citizens, such as freedom of expression, from external attacks. A shield that makes it clear that European infrastructure, such as the electoral system, is no one's pawn. The future of our children must not be written in the Kremlin, Beijing or Tehran. As the great powers rush and divide the world into spheres of influence, we must not be left behind. It is necessary for us to support democratic elements, including in the territory of our enemies. For this we need not only a shield, but also a sword. And this sword is still missing from the Commission's proposal. We must continue to work decisively together, without fear.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Russia is repeating its old play, its demands for roots, its interests, its attempts to divide Ukraine, the withering Russian empire, which is desperately clinging to its vastness-seeking past. Putin's army is bleeding. It cynically sacrifices young people in minority areas as mere disposable soldiers to keep a coughing war machine standing. The front does not move and is deep in Russia. It's going to explode. Russia's nuclear threat today is one of the last tricks of desperate power. True peace does not come from submission to imperialism, but from strong support for Ukraine. Russia's core is already breaking when Putin is forced to wave his nuclear card. Power is crumbling under Putin's feet. That is why we must ensure that its desperate last actions do not spill over our borders.

Madam President, dear colleagues, the situation in Belarus continues to be a barbaric attack on democracy and freedom. Five years ago, people voted for change and their will was stolen by Lukashenko's fraudulent regime. Today, Belarus has become Moscow's vassal, complicit in Russia's war of aggression and even in the abduction of Ukrainian children to camps on its soil. These are crimes against humanity. Europe must not forget. We must defend democracy through consistent pressure, real accountability and support for those who still believe in free Belarus. Dictators must always know. Justice may be slow, but their doom will come. This is the only real deterrence and defence for democracy.

Mr President, Commissioner, at a time of profound geopolitical change, strengthening EU-India relations is a strategic imperative. If we have any strategic sense left, we will move towards that goal. India has been and should continue to be a counterweight to China. India – the world's fastest growing major economy, the largest democracy – is a natural partner in building resilience, diversifying trade and shaping a more balanced global order. The EU-India free trade agreement lies at the core of this effort. Yet, partnership cannot come at the expense of principles. India's continued engagement with Russia – a regime waging a war of aggression against a European state – must be addressed openly. A true partnership is built on trust, responsibility and a shared vision for global stability.

Mr President, Commissioner, the shield of democracy: democracy – an open one – is the foundation of Europe. It has to breathe, but it has external threats: Actors such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, who are actively using immense resources to reduce our democratic space and freedom of expression in Europe. Eighty percent of Russia's intelligence budget goes to destabilisation operations, which are mainly directed to this part of Europe. So we have to be very careful about things. We also have problems within democracy, including in Finland, which is a strong democracy. The media space is shrinking. The possible erosion of the Finnish Information Agency does not help at all. Democracy will live if we prevent its external threats and allow it to regenerate.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, at first glance, the new US-EU trade deal seems to be absurd. But it buys us something urgently needed ‑ predictability. Without it, Europe faced tariffs up to 30 % and loss of millions of jobs. Now, with average rate below 15 %, we bought time. Not comfort, but breathing space and transatlantic economic stability that has also important political ramifications. Yet let us be clear. The deal is a fragile one. President Trump's unpredictability makes it temporary at best. This means acting now. Times are difficult. We must turn today's instability in tomorrow's power. It is about Europe's place in a world where power, not rules, unfortunately, increasingly sets the terms.

Mr President, Commissioners, Thukydides, a Greek historian, once said that the drivers of the escalation of war are the supremacy and fear of the rising, rising superpower. When Putin looks us in the eye, he sees fear in us. He sees a scattered west, and he's intimidating. Yesterday, the vice-president of the Russian Security Council, the former president, threatened Finland with war. These are not things of play and one could say that we are one lost war away from a big European war. We have to mobilize. European history has seen coalitions of those who want coalitions, from the liberation of the Iberian Peninsula to the gates of Vienna and the Great Northern War. It is now important that in this mobilisation, for once, we should be on time and succeed.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the EU-US trade ties sustain millions of livelihoods, but today they are under siege by the US Administration. President Trump's tariff blackmail is not a mere madman's negotiating tactic; they are economic disruption, signalling deep distrust and even hostility. The 10 % tariffs persist, and even that wounds our people. Let's be blunt: US trade policy is erratic, and the agreements that we can strike with them might be going away the next day. So can we actually trust or should we diversify? At the same time, we should also remember that the US faces certain geopolitical pressures and China is the key to that. We are also facing the same pressures. So negotiations based on the same strategic positioning might be helpful for both sides.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the EU-US trade ties sustain millions of livelihoods, but today they are under siege by the US Administration. President Trump's tariff blackmail is not a mere madman's negotiating tactic; they are economic disruption, signalling deep distrust and even hostility. The 10 % tariffs persist, and even that wounds our people. Let's be blunt: US trade policy is erratic, and the agreements that we can strike with them might be going away the next day. So can we actually trust or should we diversify? At the same time, we should also remember that the US faces certain geopolitical pressures and China is the key to that. We are also facing the same pressures. So negotiations based on the same strategic positioning might be helpful for both sides.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is under threat. Our freedom is at stake. Enlargement is not charity. It's cold, hard, strategic thinking. Bringing a strong Ukraine is a direct guarantee of our security. The Russian threat lurks at our gates, waiting for an opportune moment. Finland knows this through its history. We have half the EU-NATO border with Russia. Finland is the barrier that must endure, or the freedom of the peoples is at stake. The same is true of Ukraine. Unity is strength. By integrating Ukraine, we send a clear message to Putin: We don't give up, we're not afraid. Let us remember Winston Churchill, in memory of whom here is a building named. He understood the deep geopolitical core of integration: Threats to the East and the dangers of totalitarianism. We must understand that the EU is not just a peace project, but at the heart of it is a deterrent that must sustain peace. The time for hesitation is over. We must act, even without the United States, if necessary.

Madam President, High Representative Kallas, we in Europe made a fatal mistake. We started treating risk management as a foreign policy strategy. Playing it safe. Avoiding the necessary. Defeating Russia in Ukraine. Now we face the consequences. No real mobilisation, no clear plan. And the threats keep growing. When they strike, we won't manage the risks. The risks will manage us. This is a warning. This is why the EU must stop being a spectator. NATO is the backbone. Yes. But we must become the muscle. Enough of symbolic solidarity. We need deterrence, strength and readiness. We must stop fearing escalation more than defeat. This summit is not about alliance. It's about building deterrence. Europe must face what is coming with clarity, with courage and with steel in its spine.

Mr President, supporting Moldova is a strategic investment in Europe's security and future. We have to understand that it is a battleground. Right now, Moldova is facing quite a lot of problems. When I went there two weeks ago, I saw that it is torn. The pro-European forces are strong, but the dark side is present, and Moldova is a testing ground for different new methods for Russian destabilisation operations. The fight is ongoing, and it is a fight that we will see in our future if we don't solidify Moldova's defences against hybrid and destabilisation operations. I strongly support assisting Moldova on its European way.

Madam President, dear colleagues, next year, American aid to Ukraine will evaporate; let's stop pretending. We face a brutal truth – Europe now must finally deliver on its promises or betray everything we claim to stand for. We are brilliant at slogans, we use soaring rhetoric, brave words, yet Ukraine bleeds. We have poured more cash into Putin's war machine for energy than goes into the fighting for Ukraine. We promised Ukraine EU fast-tracking, but when we look closer, are we keeping those promises? The grand announcement has been nothing but PR so far. Virtue signalling, a weak-kneed avoidance of the actual gut punch needed to defeat Russia. Consider this: Ukraine is Europe's breadbasket, it is the most war-experienced military in Europe, a nation forged in fire. Having them as an ally would be a great promise for the security of this continent. But are we just bluffing? Are we a continent missing in action? It is time to shed illusions and face fire. When the Nuremberg War Tribunals ended, they declared that a war of aggression is the supreme war crime. All the other war crimes follow from that: detention of civilians, stealing of children. And we must now face the aggressor.

Madam President, dear colleagues, next year, American aid to Ukraine will evaporate; let's stop pretending. We face a brutal truth – Europe now must finally deliver on its promises or betray everything we claim to stand for. We are brilliant at slogans, we use soaring rhetoric, brave words, yet Ukraine bleeds. We have poured more cash into Putin's war machine for energy than goes into the fighting for Ukraine. We promised Ukraine EU fast-tracking, but when we look closer, are we keeping those promises? The grand announcement has been nothing but PR so far. Virtue signalling, a weak-kneed avoidance of the actual gut punch needed to defeat Russia. Consider this: Ukraine is Europe's breadbasket, it is the most war-experienced military in Europe, a nation forged in fire. Having them as an ally would be a great promise for the security of this continent. But are we just bluffing? Are we a continent missing in action? It is time to shed illusions and face fire. When the Nuremberg War Tribunals ended, they declared that a war of aggression is the supreme war crime. All the other war crimes follow from that: detention of civilians, stealing of children. And we must now face the aggressor.

Madam President, in the Victory Day, the Russian and Chinese Presidents are sending a clear message to all of us – their strategy is working and the West is divided. The US is wavering, declaring that Russia is not an aggressor in the conflict, and accepting land grabs in Ukraine. For Putin, this war is not over. Victory day is about fear and dominance, and trans-Atlantic unity is weakening. He is preparing to extend the war in the region, ranging from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, and all the way to the Arctic Sea. Europe is facing a turning point. If we fall again now and we hesitate, we invite more aggression, more war and the collapse of our security order, the collapse of the European project. We must build real deterrence. We must stand with Ukraine, not just in words, but in action.

Madam President, honourable Members, Greenland has the right to decide its own future freely and without foreign US interference. Denmark, with Europe, firmly rejects the return of neo-imperialist tactics that seek to pressure or exploit autonomous regions for strategic gain. This isn't just about Greenland: it is about international order. Decisions about Greenland's future belong to Nuuk, not to foreign capitals. Europe must stand together in this, and we need to develop a European strategy that takes the Greenlanders' ownership of their island seriously.