Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Sanna Marin: Europe relies too much on US for security

‘I must be brutally honest with you, Europe isn’t strong enough right now.’

Essi Lehto
Friday 02 December 2022 11:51 EST
Comments
Australia Finland PM Visit
Australia Finland PM Visit (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The war in Ukraine has shown that Europe is over-reliant on the US for security, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has admitted.

Speaking at a think tank in Sydney, Australia, ono Friday Marin advocated boosting Europe’s defence capabilities, including arms production.

“I must be brutally honest with you, Europe isn’t strong enough right now. We would be in trouble without the United States,” Marin told an audience at the Lowy Institute.

She added she had spoken with many US politicians who had said they think Europe should be stronger.

“The United States has given a lot of weapons, a lot of financial aid, a lot of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Europe isn’t strong enough yet,” Marin said.

“We have to make sure that we are building those capabilities when it comes to European defence, European defence industry.”

In a recent speech in Helsinki, Marin said Europe was currently too reliant on China for technology and should invest more in fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. (Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik and Nick Macfie)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in