Minister of Defence Häkkänen signs Memorandum of Understanding strengthening JEF’s support to NATO’s deterrence and defence in Northern Europe

Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen signed an updated Comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (CMOU) of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) participant nations on behalf of Finland on Wednesday 5 November. The signing took place at a meeting of JEF defence ministers in Norway.

“With this renewed Comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding, we will strengthen the JEF’s role in complementing NATO’s deterrence and defence in Northern Europe. Now that all JEF nations are also NATO Allies, we are able to remove the remaining constraints on this main task,” Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen said.

According to Minister Häkkänen, the CMOU will enable JEF nations to better contribute to NATO's deterrence and defence in situations of security concern short of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

“The CMOU now allows all JEF nations to contribute in situations where Article 5 has not yet been invoked and in situations leading up to the invoking of Article 5 and collective defence,” Häkkänen said.

The updated CMOU enables enhanced partnerships with countries outside the JEF. In practice, this would mean Permanent Structured Cooperation. Ukraine was invited to become the JEF’s first enhanced partner at the JEF Leaders’ Summit in May 2025.

The CMOU also defines the JEF+ concept which enables ad hoc cooperation among allies and partners. For example, in autumn 2025, Canada took part in TARASSIS, a series of JEF military activities, and the Royal Canadian Air Force flew training missions together with the Finnish Air Force.

The updated Comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding defines the principles for JEF’s activities. The CMOU was originally signed in 2018. The key updates are mostly due to Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO.

Inquiries: Markus Rahja, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 096.