Summary:

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini believes that Finland will do fine despite Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States and that the country should continue current foreign and security policies. Former Finnish PM Alexander Stubb wrote earlier in a column in the Financial Times that he was worried Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin would « neutralise » Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO option and create a security policy vacuum in Northern Europe. Mr Soini says that he does not believe this scenario and that he is confident that the US, NATO and the EU all understand how important good transatlantic relations are.

Summary:

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen talks to Yle about what kind of consequences Donald Trump’s presidency could have on the country’s climate policy. Mr Trump, for example, promised earlier to cut climate subsidies by billions and to increase oil and gas production in the US. Minister Mykkänen has been worried about the development. However, he believes that Mr Trump also wants to get less dependent on oil from Arabic countries. Mr Mykkänen is most worried about the US turning to the opposite direction as the country’s climate policy development has been very positive in recent years. He also considers China’s and India’s current situation comforting when comparing to what it was 15 years ago.

Summary:

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini thinks that the EU membership negotiations must be continued with Turkey even though the general atmosphere in the country is against the Union. Minister Soini talked with Turkey’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu on the phone on Monday. Minister Soini tells that Minister Cavusoglu told him directly that Turkey is not interested in the EU or what it says. However, Minister Soini thinks that the membership negotiations must be continued as they are the only way to influence Turkey. According to him, the EU is dependent on Turkey’s help when it comes to managing the refugee crisis as well as problems in Syria and Iraq.

Summary:

President Sauli Niinistö supports President of the European Council Donald Tusk’s idea of a strong police unit against terrorism on an EU level. President Niinistö visited Brussels just before the meeting of EU’s ministers for foreign affairs where the EU’s security level was discussed. He describes Finland’s foreign and security political situation as ‘unchanged’. President Niinistö strongly supports strengthening the Union’s joint security policy but considers talks about the EU’s joint army misleading. No one means a completely new army but a combination of existing resources and how they could be used together, he adds.

Media:  Kauppalehti 

Summary:

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini believes that the US presidential election is reflected in the situation in Syria. Russia’s power politics in Syria continue as all attention in the United States is on the coming election. Mr Soini hopes that the new president will put Syria back on the foreign policy agenda. He does not believe that a more active United States would increase confrontation with Russia.

Media:  YLE Uutiset

Date: 29.10.2016

Journalist: Johanna Östman

Main source: Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini