Your Majesties,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,
¡Bienvenidos a Finlandia!
It is a great honor for Suzanne and myself to welcome Your Majesties to Finland for a state visit.
The last state visit from Spain took place thirty-seven years ago.
In 1989, His Majesty King Juan Carlos spoke here in Helsinki about the geographical distance between Finland and Spain, but also about how close our two countries are in spirit.
I think that observation has stood the test of time.
And tonight, Your Majesties, we have the privilege of continuing that story.
***
My personal relationship with Spain started in a rather unusual place: the Finnish Defence Forces.
The same year that Your Majesty’s parents visited Finland, I was doing my military service in Santahamina.
My fellow conscripts were preparing to go to Lapland for training.
I was preparing to go to Spain.
I had received permission to travel to Spain to play in the Spanish Open golf tournament at Las Brisas.
So, while my fellow soldiers were learning to survive the Arctic, I was learning to survive the Spanish heat with a golf club in my hand.
Later on, I got my fair share of winter training. But that one time, I was the object of everybody’s envy, or ridicule, at the military base.
It was my first meaningful connection with Spain. It certainly would not be my last.
***
Years later, when I arrived in the European Parliament as a newcomer, I again found Spanish friends willing to lend a helping hand.
When you are new to European institutions, the institutions matter. But people matter even more.
Someone has to explain the unwritten rules. Someone has to introduce you to colleagues. Someone has to make you feel that you belong.
For me, that person was Íñigo Méndez de Vigo.
Our friendship has endured to this day.
I also remember another Spaniard from those years: Camilo Villarino, today Your Majesty’s Head of Household.
During the negotiations on the Nice Treaty, we spent long days and nights discussing the future of Europe, drafting and planning.
It was tough. Not necessarily a process that would make you fall in love with European integration.
After exhausting rounds of negotiations, most of us boarded the plane hoping to get some sleep.
Not Camilo.
He would take out the latest edition of Foreign Affairs and begin reading.
That image has stayed with me because it captured something important about Spain and about Europe: curiosity, ambition and the conviction that there is always more to learn.
It warms my heart to have Camilo here today. Unfortunately, Íñigo had to cancel his trip last minute.
And I am not the only Finn with personal connections to Spain. Far from it. Spain is perhaps the country in the EU that Finnish people know the best.
Every year, around 10 percent of the Finnish population travels on vacation to Spain. Every Finn has a story to tell about your country.
In my own story, Club La Santa in Lanzarote, which my family has visited every year since 2008, plays a central role.
***
These personal connections rest on something deeper: our shared values.
As Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, said in Madrid in 1999, Finland and Spain share a world of values.
Our societies are built on democracy, the rule of law, human rights and equality.
We are both staunch supporters of multilateral cooperation and rules-based international order.
We may come from opposite corners of Europe, but we have a common understanding of what kind of Europe we want to build.
A Europe that remains united.
A Europe that remains open.
A Europe that remains capable of reform and ambitious for the future. Even when the political conditions seem difficult.
***
Today we, as Europe, face a multitude of challenges.
The pressures may come from different directions, but they affect all of us.
Spain experiences migration pressure on Europe’s southern border. Finland safeguards Europe’s eastern border.
The events in Ceuta put Spain under immense pressure this summer.
Finland has faced instrumentalized migration from Russia.
The situations differ, but the lessons are similar.
These are issues that touch the very core of our common humanity. But at the same time, challenge our national and European security.
Secure external borders are essential.
European solidarity is essential.
And no Member State should ever be left alone when facing pressure that ultimately concerns all Europeans.
Let me therefore be clear: Finland stands in full solidarity with Spain.
***
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to test Europe’s resilience and unity. The effects are felt most profoundly here on the Eastern Flank.
At the same time, instability in the Middle East and migratory pressures affect us all, but most intimately the Southern Flank.
And changes in the transatlantic relationship require Europeans, individually and jointly, to assume greater responsibility for our own security and defence.
***
The conclusion is straightforward.
There are no longer “your challenges” and “our challenges”.
There are only common European challenges.
Our security is interconnected.
Our prosperity is interconnected.
And our future is interconnected.
***
Fortunately, Europe is not defined only by the challenges we face together.
It is also defined by the successes we celebrate together.
This has been a good year for both Spain and Finland.
Spain became world champions in football. Warmest congratulations on your victory!
Finland became world champions in ice hockey.
Different sports, perhaps.
But the same lesson.
Success rarely comes from individual brilliance alone.
It comes from teamwork. As did Enric Mas’ victory in Vuelta a España this year.
***
That brings me back to sport.
I have spoken about golf and cycling, two sports to which I have devoted an unreasonable amount of time.
But I should also mention sailing.
Your Majesty, you are a distinguished sailor.
And whether we speak about golf, cycling or sailing, the lesson is remarkably similar.
Conditions are rarely perfect.
The wind does not always blow in the direction you would like.
The road is not always flat.
And giving up is never a strategy.
That is true in sport.
It is true in diplomacy.
And it is certainly true in Europe.
Our friendship is built on personal ties.
It is strengthened by shared values.
And it is sustained by the conviction that Europeans achieve more when we move forward together.
Thirty-seven years after His Majesty King Juan Carlos spoke in Helsinki about the closeness of our countries in spirit, we can see that the relationship has only grown stronger.
***
So, Your Majesties, Ladies and Gentlemen:
To Spain.
To Finland.
To Europe.
And to the friendship between our two countries.
¡Viva España!
Eläköön Suomi!
Thank you. Gracias.
¡Salud!
