Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits Finland and Sweden. Ironically, during a bunker tour, the politician becomes a child again.
When she sees the huge bunker complex below the Finnish capital Helsinki, Annalena Baerbock goes into raptures: She praises the “intelligent urban planning” of the Finns, who have built a city under the city here. As security guards guide the German foreign minister through the massive corridors, she discovers yellow squares painted on the floor. With a grin, Baerbock starts to jump – as if she were a child again, playing “Heaven and Hell” in the schoolyard.
The Foreign Minister is currently on a two-day trip to Finland and Sweden, speaking about European security policy and the two countries’ forthcoming accession to NATO. When she meets her Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto in Helsinki on Monday, she takes the opportunity to be shown one of the city’s 50 civil defense bunkers.
The Arena Center Hakaniemi is about 30 meters below a central market place and serves as a large sports center in peacetime. In an emergency, the center offers the population protection against air raids as a functional bunker.
Space in the bunker for everyone – and their guests
In total there are 5,500 air raid shelters in Helsinki alone, including 50 bunkers. They offer space for around 900,000 people – a third more than the city has inhabitants. “That doesn’t just mean the residents of your capital, but also your guests,” says the Foreign Minister, addressing her colleague in awe.
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Finland is considered a pioneer in civil protection. Not only in the capital, but throughout the country there are systems and rooms that offer people security and fast care in the event of an attack. With a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, defense and civil protection now seem more important than ever to Finland.
Baerbock calls for decision to join NATO “without further delay”
In May 2022, Finland, together with Sweden, applied for NATO membership under the impression of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. All 30 members of the defense alliance must ratify accession. 28 have already done so, only Hungary and Turkey not yet.
Baerbock also addresses this reluctance in Helsinki: “At the NATO summit in Madrid last summer, we jointly laid the foundation for accession. And of course we expect all NATO members to implement this decision without further delay.”
As far as Germany’s civil protection is concerned, something should also be moving soon: The Foreign Ministry is developing a “national security strategy”, Baerbock wants to make disaster control a federal matter instead of leaving it to the states. In Helsinki, she emphasizes what Germany should be guided by: “In terms of civil protection, Finland is a pioneer in Europe and a role model for all of us.”
