Minister for European Affairs Strand: The budget must include a separate Eastern Finland package. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva
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Finland is set to receive more than €1 billion in additional funding from the European Union in the next budget cycle, with the funds earmarked to strengthen the country’s eastern border with Russia.
The announcement came as EU ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s proposed Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, with a total projected value of €2 trillion.
Joakim Strand, Finland’s Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering, said on Friday that the European Commission has proposed €1.6 billion in funding for Finland under border and migration criteria. This figure represents a significant increase compared to the current framework.
“This is over a billion euros more than in the current budgeting period, which is a very welcome thing for Finland,” Strand said at a press conference in Brussels.
Strand said the proposal reflects Finland’s long-standing efforts to raise the profile of its eastern frontier within EU institutions.
“We have worked for a long time both at the civil service and political level and we have used our networks extensively,” Strand said. “Many of us have also physically taken these commissioners to the eastern border.”
He referred specifically to a visit in April 2024 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who toured Finland’s border region to assess the security landscape.
The Finnish-Russian border spans more than 1,300 kilometres and has been a growing focus of EU security and migration policy since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Finland joined NATO in April 2023 and has since reinforced its border infrastructure and surveillance systems.
Strand welcomed the increase in funding but said the broader proposal still requires adjustments.
“The total amount is still too high,” he said, referring to the €2 trillion MFF proposal. “But the substantive goals are in line with our own goals.”
The current EU budget, covering 2021–2027, totals €1.2 trillion. The proposed 2028–2034 framework includes increased spending on defence, border control, and digital infrastructure, in response to geopolitical shifts and internal policy reforms.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said earlier this week that Finland could not accept the overall size of the budget in its current form, but supported efforts to improve internal and external security.
The EU’s long-term budget must be unanimously approved by all member states. Negotiations are expected to continue into 2026.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
