Seeking influence

Political Discourses on EU Defence Cooperation in Finland and Sweden in 2016–2019

Authors

• Saila Heinikoski Finnish Institute of International Affairs https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7449-8540

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37449/ennenjanyt.89054

Keywords:

European Union, Finland, Sweden, Permanent Structured Cooperation, Common Security and Defence Policy, Military non-alignment, Europeanisation

Abstract

The article discusses how Swedish and Finnish politicians discuss deepening defence cooperation in the European Union, in particular the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in defence. The empirical material consists of political documents and parliamentary debates from 2016 to 2019 and includes white papers, reports, parliamentary debates, government proposals and letters concerning Permanent Structured Cooperation. The analytical tool utilized in the articles is based on Europeanization theory and its concepts of national projection, national adaptation and identity reconstruction. The Finnish and Swedish politicians justify the participation in PESCO by referring to influence: Finnish politicians depict PESCO as based on a partly Finnish initiative of strengthening defence cooperation. Those (few) opposing PESCO, in turn, utilize different levels of discourse: the Finnish opponents describes PESCO as part of federalist development, whereas the Swedish criticism regard the potential disruption of the Swedish military non-alignment as a threat. The policies of the countries, however, remain similar.