A fresh poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat indicates that a majority of Finns want to maintain a strong independent national defence capability.
Only one in four want to turn the European Union into a military alliance that would answer for the defence of all of its member states.
Support for NATO membership also remains quite low - just 12%.
Respondents to the poll were asked the following question:
"The EU has military forces for crisis management, and the EU countries help each other when terrorism threatens. The EU member states deal with the defence of their own countries in different ways. How should Finland arrange for its defence in the future?"
Supporters of the Left Alliance and the Centre Party were the most insistent on a strong independent national defence. Support for a common EU defence was highest among supporters of the Social Democratic Party (30%) and the Green League (32%).
The idea of joining NATO was most popular among supporters of the National Coalition Party (28%).
Candidates for the European Parliament were even more strongly in favour of maintaining an independent defence than the population at large.
Two out of three candidates answering questions in the Helsingin Sanomat candidate selection engine, or Vaalikone, on the newspaper’s web site, preferred independent defence forces to either NATO membership or a common EU defence.
The candidates of the various parties had slightly different priorities than their average supporters. Centre Party candidates (80%) were more interested in a strong independent defence than the party’s supporters (65%).
The views of the European Parliament candidates of the Social Democrats were quite similar to those of the party’s supporters.
Support for NATO membership was higher among candidates of the National Coalition Party (40%), than among the party’s supporters (28%).
Left Alliance candidates in the European elections back the maintenance of a strong national defence almost unanimously (95%), while a slightly smaller majority of the party’s supporters (76%) feel the same way.
Support for an EU defence is slightly higher among Green candidates (40%) than among the party’s supporters (32%).
