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Europe has ‘no choice’ but to increase defence spending: former Finland PM Sanna Marin

Jovi Ho
Jovi Ho • 5 min read
Europe has ‘no choice’ but to increase defence spending: former Finland PM Sanna Marin
“Small” countries like Finland “don’t have the luxury” to disagree on foreign and security policy, says Marin, who stepped down in September 2023. Photo: Amundi
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Russia’s attack on Ukraine, now two years in, is only the “forefront” of a much larger and wider ongoing “war of values”, says Sanna Marin, former Prime Minister of Finland. 

“If democratic countries send out a message that we are weak, we’re not behind our values, we’re not behind these rules-based order and we will let Russia and Putin run over Ukraine, then the whole rule-based order system will collapse,” says Marin to applause at the Amundi World Investment Forum in Paris on June 13.

This is a defining moment of history, where democracy has to show strength, adds Marin, who became the world’s youngest premier when she was elected to Finland's top job in 2019.

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