Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo 10:25 Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting[...]

Thank you very much for this meeting, dear Petteri.

For me, these visits to the capitals are really important - not just because it is my duty to try to bring the European institutions close to the European citizens, but because we are a union in diversity. It is essential to engage with all the leaders. In our Union, every voice matters - we need to take them into account to build our unity.

We have two clear priorities: security and competitiveness. And both are closely interlinked, because without security, we cannot have a robust economy. And without a robust economy, it is very difficult to improve our common security.

Next week, we will be counting over 1 300 days of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine - 1 300 is also the number of kilometres of your border with Russia.

Finland, through its history and its geography, is very aware about Russia's threat. And the Russian threat is not only against Finland; it is a threat against all European countries.

Finnish defence is the first line of our own defence. And this is the reason why we need to look at defence as a common effort, underpinned by solidarity and common interest of all European countries to defend ourselves.

We have done a lot since 2022, but we have much more to do in the coming years - and we need to do this together. It is not only about spending more, but also about spending better. And to spend better, we need to spend together - not only by joint procurement, but also by supporting common investments in our common defence. And when it comes to the future multiannual financial framework - the next European budget - defence must be one of my priorities.

Second, border security is not only about defence. It is also about border management. And we cannot forget about the geopolitical impact f this new geopolitical situation in the border regions. Cohesion is not about the GDP of a country, but about the concrete realities in the different regions of Europe. We are a Europe of nations, but we are also a Europe of regions, and we need to support all of them.

The second main priority is competitiveness. We need to move forward to eliminate all the barriers in the single market, to develop a real Capital Markets Union, and, of course, to invest in the technologies of the future -the technologies of the present. As Mario Draghi's report explained very well, it is crucial to use climate change and defence as the two main drivers of our competitiveness. Because when we are investing in defence, we are also investing in research, innovation, and new technologies.

And, the same goes for climate change. We cannot stop the clock on climate change, and for this reason we need to continue to be ambitious in our targets: to reduce our emissions and to reach the target of the Paris Agreement.

Petteri, thank you very much for this opportunity. We have a new political year in front of us. A very demanding year to manage all these challenges that we are facing on defence and on competitiveness. And we count on Finland as a very active, creative and reliable member of our Union.