Speaking to military experts in Helsinki this week, general Ari Puheloinen admitted that the comprehensive Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) has not yet resulted in reduced spending on the military.
“Over the next ten years, the NORDEFCO will not solve Finland’s economic challenges with regard to its military defence, Puheloinen said, a press release from the Finnish military reads.
While economic benefits have been sparse, the cooperation has successfully helped develop functional cooperation. Among the success stories are the exchange of marine and air space information, joint training of navy units and cross-border air force traning, the general said.
A key motivation for establishing the closer Nordic defence relations in 2009 was the prospects of harmonizing defence capacities and conseqnently reduce costs. Both Finland and its Nordic neighbors have over the last years increasingly been confronted by the need to cut military spending.
Experts have repeatedly stressed that small and medium sized countries, like the five Nordic states, will in the future not be able to sustain complete and balanced armed forces and that they will have to choose between either to share capabilities with strategic partners on a bilateral or multilateral basis or to face a future with fewer capabilities.
The NORDEFCO cooperation is based on the conclusions made in a 2007 report on the prospects of increasing cost-efficiency and to enable the militaries forces to retain the full range of military capabilities. The envisaged cooperation would become a complement to the countries’ close cooperation within NATO and the EU, the NORDEFCO website informs.
To further develop the Nordic defence cooperation a MoU was signed in November 2009 between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden establishing the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) as a truly Nordic cooperation.
