Return to page Areas of expertise International military crisis management cooperation Finland will continue to participate in international military and civilian crisis management under the auspices of the EU, the UN, NATO and the OSCE. Finland’s...

20.5.2026 | The Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy of the Finnish Government has outlined that the expenditure Finland will be reporting under NATO’s 1.5 per cent target for defence- and security-related spending will include statutory readiness and preparedness duties or capabilities critical to homeland defence that are sustained and developed by other branches of government than the Ministry of Defence.

Common Security and Defence Policy and defence cooperation in the European Union Defence cooperation in the European Union reinforces the defence capabilities of EU Member States, strengthens the basis of a European defence capability and consolid...

What is the Strategic Compass of the EU? The Strategic Compass guiding the EU’s security and defence cooperation was approved at the Foreign Affairs Council on 21 March 2022 by the EU’s defence and foreign ministers. The EU leaders endorsed the do...

Return to page Areas of expertise Finland’s membership in NATO Finland’s security environment was fundamentally altered when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Based on a reassessment of the security policy situation, Finlan...

Special Adviser Ilmari Uljas 23.6.2022 9.58 Blog 1. Who are you? My name is Ilmari Uljas and I work in the Defence Cooperation Unit of the Defence Policy Department at the Ministry of Defence. I act as the Ministry’s EU Coordinator and together wi...

Areas of expertise Finland’s membership in NATO Finland’s security environment was fundamentally altered when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Based on a reassessment of the security policy situation, Finland decided to ap...

Return to page Areas of expertise Preserving the legacy of war veterans Preserving the legacy of war veterans is about preserving, managing and fostering the heritage of the wars Finland fought from 1939 to 1945 and the legacy of the veterans of t...

Special Adviser Julia Mikkola 10.2.2022 9.50 Blog 1. Who are you? My name is Julia Mikkola, and I work as a Special Adviser at the Finance Unit of the Administrative Policy Department in the Ministry of Defence. I started in my position last autum...

Departments and Units Administration Policy Department Director of Department: Teemu Penttilä The Administration Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence of Finland is responsible for the planning of defence administration operations and finan...

European Union Agencies in the Field of Security and Defence Policy 1) European Defence Agency The European Defence Agency was established to support the Member States in their effort to improve European crisis management capabilities and to susta...

Mission statement of the Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defence is in charge of the Finnish defence administration which is tasked with keeping Finland safe. Finland is a militarily allied country that develops its own defence capability as p...

Defence Administration and Sustainable Development The tasks of the defence administration support sustainable development. Defence policy, military national defence, the coordinated comprehensive defence approach, assisting other authorities, and...

Defence materiel and the defence industry Materiel policy and procurements The Ministry of Defence directs materiel policy in the administrative branch and steers key defence materiel projects. The aim of the defence administration's materiel poli...

The Defence Forces protects Finland’s integrity The Ministry of Defence guides and directs the activities of the Finnish Defence Forces. The tasks of the Defence Forces are: Military defence of Finland to monitor land and water areas as well as ai...

Projects and legislation The legal framework for military defence, in other words the laws and presidential decrees, government decrees and Ministry of Defence decrees are prepared in the Ministry. The Legal Unit is for the main part responsible f...

Return to page International defence cooperation JEF cooperation 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 Ne...

Ministerial Adviser Tiina Raijas 1.10.2020 14.20 Blog 1. Who are you? I’m Tiina Raijas and I work as a Ministerial Adviser in the Planning Unit. 2. What’s your job profile like? I’m responsible for directing and coordinating the defence administra...

Return to page International defence cooperation Defence cooperation between Finland and Sweden Sweden has a strong position as Finland’s close bilateral partner in defence cooperation. The cooperation builds on a long historical bond, shared valu...

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