Finland asked for a deal on the use of two border crossings, said President Sauli Niinistö on Wednesday while visiting the country’s far north-east. Niinistö was responding to reports in the press that Finland had been backed into a corner in negotiations over the deal, which bans citizens of other EU countries from using the Salla and Raja-Jooseppi border posts.
Niinistö felt the need to remind the country of the situation in which the deal was first mooted in February.
"Back then there was a really big worry, an exaggerated worry thanks to the media, that there were tens or hundreds of thousands of people in Russia waiting to cross the border and claim asylum," said Niinistö.
Finns wanted deal
"Sure, something had to be done," continued the president. "The other possibility would have been that Finland didn’t try to get any kind of agreement and waited to see where all this would lead."
Together with the government, President Niinistö decided to act.
"It should be remembered that the deal came about because Finns wanted it," said Niinistö. "The Russians had no need for an agreement."
EU partners informed
The agreement means that only citizens of Russia, Belarus and Finland can use the two border posts—not citizens of other EU countries. Iltalehti reported on Tuesday that Finland was forced into agreeing that condition, but on Wednesday the president said that EU partners knew well in advance that Finland would limit use of the two northernmost border crossings.
"Nobody, nowhere questioned that or criticised it," said Niinistö.
The president admitted that the deal wasn’t perfect, and that it wasn’t exactly what Finland had proposed, “but that does not mean that the agreement isn’t very necessary for us.”
