The second Speakers’ Corner guest of the spring, Mikko Hautala, brought his top-level expertise to the fore in the discussion about the changed superpower relations and the relations between Europe and Finland and the United States.

Ambassador of Finland to the United States Mikko Hautala, had a discussion with Markku Jokisipilä, the Director of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, on April 12 about Europe’s newly changed foreign and security policy and economic situation. Hautala, who has strong special expertise in Ukraine and Russia, believes that the war in Ukraine and the political tensions caused by it will last for a long time. According to Hautala, the restarted superpower competition will influence and define more and more areas of our lives in the future.

Hautala, who works as an ambassador in Washington, sees that the bilateral relations between Finland and the United States have changed in a completely new way through the recently initiated defence cooperation. Hautala also believes that Finland needs the United States to substitute for the lost Russian market. During the discussion, Hautala answered questions from the audience regarding, for example, the situation in Åland and the defence cooperation between Finland and Sweden. The recording of the discussion can be found on Youtube. The discussion is in Finnish.

After the Speakers’ Corner discussions, the upcoming Europe Forum seems to be even closer and the debates at the forum will certainly be very interesting this fall as well. The preliminary program of the 2023 Europe Forum will be published on our website on Europe Day, May 9. Europe Day will be celebrated again at Oodi, Helsinki’s Central Library. More information and the day’s program can be found at www.eurooppapaiva.fi

Head towards Europe’s future and join the Europe Forum on August 30–September 1, 2023!