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Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo

European Council / Council of the European Union

European Council
Statements and remarks
8 September 2025 10:25

Thank you very much, dear Petteri, for this opportunity. 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.

And it is essential to engage with all the leaders, because 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 — 1 330 is also the number of kilometres of your border with Russia. Finland, by its history and its geography, is very aware about Russia's threat. And the Russian's thread is not only against Finland; it is a threat against all European countries.

Finnish defence is the first line of our own defence. And that is the reason because we need to look at defence as a common effort, underpinned by solidarity and by the common interest of all European countries to defend ourselves. We have been through 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 our priorities. Second, border security is not only about defence; it is also about border management. And we cannot forget the geopolitical impact in the border regions of this new geopolitical situation. 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. 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 from climate change. We cannot stop the clock of 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, very demanding to manage all these challenges that we are facing on defence and on competitiveness. And we count, of course, with Finland as a full membership, very active, very creative, and very reliable in our union.

Thank you very much, Petteri.