HELSINKI — Finland’s conservative-led government has unveiled a broad plan to lift defense spending from $6.8 billion in 2025 to $11.5 billion in 2032.
The government’s proposal, which has gained the majority support of the main opposition parties in the Eduskunta, the parliament here, would reposition Finland’s annual spending on defense closer to 3.3% of GDP, placing it well above NATO’s 2% guideline.
Finland’s spending on defense in 2024 is expected to reach around 2.4% of the nation’s GDP.
The cooling in political relations between Helsinki and Moscow against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine continues to bolster political and public support to increase Finland’s spending on national security, said Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen.
“The security situation, in Finland and regionally, is difficult to predict. It could deteriorate quickly. Greater investment is needed in defense and national security to enhance our ability to counter broad-spectrum influencing, resist military pressure and fight potential large-scale wars that could drag on for years. As a result, we will reform national defense while also bringing the major ongoing projects in our Air Force and Navy to the finish line,” Häkkänen said.
The Finnish government presented an updated Defense Report to the Eduskunta on Dec. 19, its first since the country joined NATO in April 2023. The report underscores the elevated risks and security threats posed by Russia.
The report warns of the danger that Russia could decide to extend its war with Ukraine to neighboring NATO-aligned Baltic countries and member states of the European Union.
“Russia has moved towards a more open, unpredictable and protracted confrontation with the West that will continue to pose a long-term security threat to Europe and Finland” the defense report states.
The increase in Finland’s spending on defense represents a natural consequence of its membership of NATO, but it is also a reflection of the heightened level of threat caused by “Russian military expansionism,” said Pauli Aalto-Setälä, a member of parliament for the National Coalition Party.
“Russia is a war-addicted terrorist state that is currently waging a full-scale war on its neighbor. This is the reality we face and Finland, as part of NATO and with our European partners, must act accordingly,” said Aalto-Setälä.
Finland’s defense budget has risen markedly since 2020 when it stood at $3.5 billion. A number of big ticket procurements, including the $8.8 billion deal to purchase 64 Lockheed Martin F-35A fighters, saw the defense budget increase to $6.1 billion in 2023.
Gerard O’Dwyer is the Scandinavian affairs correspondent for Defense News.
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