Finland: In Search of an Effective and Equitable European Union
Finland joined the European Union with three main goals in mind: protection against military threats (Finland remains outside NATO), gaining influence within and through the EU, and economic opportunities via a full-fledged participation in the Single Market.
The past eight years have blurred the nature of EU integration in Finland. The compounding of the Eurozone crisis and constant rambling between Member States on the one hand, and the great leap forward into integration on the other hand, has cast a shadow over the future of the EU.
In order to restore legitimacy to the EU project in Finland, the European Union should focus on solving the economic crisis – especially as the Finns feel the EU is equipped to deal with it. Relatedly, it should better enforce common rules, which Finland strives to respect. It may want to work on how to engage citizens further, but this is only secondary in the short term.
This publication is part of the "Building Bridges Paper Series". For more information about this project, click here.
Available in:
Regions and themes
Share
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Finland: In Search of an Effective and Equitable European Union
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.
Japan’s Energy Policy after Hormuz. Security, Competitiveness, and Decarbonization
The 2026 Hormuz crisis has strengthened rather than weakened the rationale for Japan’s decarbonization strategy, contrary to what might have been expected. Rather than energy policy supplanting climate policy, the two should actually be viewed as inseparable.
Japan and Nuclear Weapons: Between Extended Deterrence and Normative Dilemmas
Since the late 1950s, Japan’s nuclear weapons policy has been based on the coexistence of two competing normative rationales: the rejection of nuclear weapons, rooted in the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the recognition of the central role of US extended nuclear deterrence for Japan’s security.
Japan’s Defense Industry Goes Global: Ambitions and Challenges
Fragmented Europe: Dealing with China as a technology and innovation power
How is Europe navigating China’s ascension as a technological power? The latest report by the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) provides a nuanced account of a converging, yet still fragmented approach across 22 countries.