The UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force or JEF is a multilateral framework for defence cooperation formed by ten countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Finland joined the JEF in summer 2017 at the same time as Sweden. Iceland became the most recent member in April 2021.
Through their cooperation, the participating nations aim to develop military capabilities, prevent various crises and, if necessary, act together in crisis situations. The main operating environment is Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.
Joint exercises develop interoperability and the cooperation framework can be used to support for example an operation led by the UN, NATO or the EU. For each task and situation, an especially formed task force will be formed, and each participating nation will make a political decision independently.
Forms of cooperation are constantly developed. In June 2021, the defence ministers of the participating nations met in Helsinki. They signed a political steering document guiding military activities, complementing the JEF Memorandum of Understanding adopted in 2018. JEF is a group of likeminded countries able to start operations quickly, if necessary.
The participation of Finland in the activities of the JEF has also been outlined in the Government’s Defence Report.
