European Council to focus on defence – Prime Minister Orpo to represent Finland at the meeting

The EU heads of state or government will meet for the European Council on 23 October in Brussels. The meeting will focus on support for Ukraine, efforts to strengthen European defence, the EU’s competitiveness and the clean transition, the Middle East, migration and housing. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo will represent Finland at the meeting.

The European Council will discuss ways to step up the EU’s ongoing support for Ukraine. The discussion is a follow-up to the leaders’ informal meeting in Copenhagen, which explored the use of immobilised Russian assets to support Ukraine. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also speak at the meeting.

The main topic on the agenda at the European Council will be strengthening European defence. Discussions will be based on the plan put forth by the Commission last week to achieve defence readiness in Europe by 2030. The plan consists of flagship projects that would ramp up defence at the eastern border, develop a drone defence system and strengthen air defence. The Commission also proposes measures to facilitate investments in defence and harmonise the European defence industry. 

“Finland’s key messages at the meeting will focus on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine and strengthening Europe’s shared defence. To guarantee our security, we must ramp up the surveillance and defence of our airspace, especially at the border with Russia,” said Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

The leaders’ discussions on competitiveness will focus on simplification proposals, which aim to lighten regulation and reduce the administrative burden. Another topic of the discussion on competitiveness will be the twin transition, or how the green and digital transitions can work together to support Europe’s growth targets. This topic is closely linked to the EU’s climate objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

With regard to the Middle East, the heads of state or government will discuss the EU’s efforts to promote a lasting peace and reconstruction in Gaza. Discussions on external relations will also touch on the situation in Moldova.

A Euro Summit will be held in connection with the meeting, with President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde also in attendance. Topics on the agenda for the summit include the economic situation in Europe, the digital euro and the international role of the euro.

Before the European Council, the leaders of Finland, the other Nordic countries, the Baltic States, Ireland, Poland and Germany will convene for a meeting of the Northern Nine. The format was previously known as the NBIP8.

More information on Finland’s positions for the European Council meeting will be provided in the Ministerial Committee on European Union Affairs press release on 22 October.

Inquiries: Tuomas Tikkanen, Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister in European Affairs, tel. +358 40 523 5768, Satu Keskinen, State Under-Secretary for EU Affairs, tel. +358 295 160 302 and Marko Ruonala, Chief Communications Specialist, tel. +358 50 522 82 33, Prime Minister’s Office