Minna Ålander

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store leave at the end of a press conference at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on 7 April 2025. Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images.

EuropaUnión EuropeaAmpliación

Norway is facing a similar challenge to its long-term policy of remaining outside the EU as Finland and Sweden did with their stance on NATO membership three years ago.

Finland and Sweden’s foreign and security policies were for decades based on the idea that the Russian threat was manageable. But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 posed a massive challenge to Finland and Sweden’s policy of remaining outside NATO.

From a Finnish and Swedish perspective, the fact that Ukraine was not a NATO member was an important factor. Helsinki especially saw clearly that any self-imposed restrictions for the sake of good relations with Russia would not be respected and thus not guarantee safety.…  Seguir leyendo »

Visitors walk among cannons at the former Suomenlinna island fortress in Helsinki on May 26. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

EuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica Exterior

Along with Estonia, Finland has been in the vanguard of calls for a European Union visa ban on Russian tourists. As well as gaining strong support in several EU states, the proposed ban has also attracted fierce criticism, including accusations that it would amount to a “new Iron Curtain”.

Such accusations are ill-founded and unfair. While there are legitimate arguments against a visa ban, describing it as a Cold War idea dismisses the real problems these countries are facing today—and the history of their relationships with Russia.

The debate in Finland is a good example of the practical as well as symbolic reasoning behind the ban—and the likelihood that this debate will not go away anytime soon.…  Seguir leyendo »