Eight EU leaders in Helsinki: All of Europe is being defended on the eastern flank

Eight EU Member States stressed the importance of significantly strengthening security at Europe's eastern external border at the Eastern Flank Summit in Helsinki on 16 December. The Member States on the EU's eastern flank called for the Union's support in building credible and united defence capabilities along the border with Russia from north to south. The summit at the House of the Estates was hosted by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

"The countries of the European Union have jointly affirmed that Russia poses a long-term threat to all of Europe. Europe is being defended on its eastern edge. This means that the eastern border regions must play a key role in the EU's defence projects. Our task is to ensure that the issue stays high on the agenda and is understood at the EU level," said Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

At the summit, the leaders agreed that Finland and Poland would be responsible for coordinating the project to strengthen the collective defence of the EU's eastern flank. Alongside measures at the national level, it is important that the countries on the eastern edge of Europe intensify their cooperation within the EU and NATO.

"No one is going to do this on our behalf. United defence capabilities along the entire border with Russia will increase stability and security throughout Europe," said Prime Minister Orpo.

Presidents Nicușor Dan of Romania and Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania and Prime Ministers Rossen Jeliazkov of Bulgaria, Ulf Kristersson of Sweden, Kristen Michal of Estonia, Evika Siliņa of Latvia and Donald Tusk of Poland attended the summit in Helsinki.

At the summit, President of the Republic Alexander Stubb gave an overview of the recent peace negotiations in Ukraine in Berlin. EU Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius briefed the leaders on EU support programmes for eastern Member States. The leaders also heard a presentation from Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces Janne Jaakkola.

The EU's Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 includes a number of concrete measures to strengthen defence. In their discussions in Helsinki, the leaders stressed the importance of prioritising the eastern edge of the Union, especially through projects under the Eastern Flank Watch initiative. The aim of the initiative is to build multi-domain defence capabilities including ground combat capabilities, drone defence, border protection and military mobility.

"The defence and security of Europe's external border must be based on coherent and credible capabilities from the Arctic region to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Our approach must also be compatible with NATO's capabilities," Prime Minister Orpo emphasised.

The first-ever Eastern Flank Summit was held at the newly renovated House of the Estates. The meeting comes ahead of this week's European Council in Brussels, where discussions will focus on support for Ukraine, the use of frozen Russian assets and European security and defence.

Prime Minister Orpo also invited EU leaders to Finland last year: in December 2024, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met for discussions in Saariselkä, Lapland.

Inquiries: Tuomas Tikkanen, Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister in European Affairs, tel. +358 40 523 5768, Juuso Kilpinen, Special Adviser for EU Affairs, tel. +358 50 322 9636 and Anne Sjöholm, Head of Communications for EU Affairs, tel. +358 40 537 0733, Prime Minister's Office