HELSINKI, Aug. 30 -- Finland and France gave declarations on European defense and the future of artificial intelligence on Thursday, when French President Emmanuel Macron wrapped up his visit to Finland.
Finland and France underlined the goal of creating "stronger autonomous" European military preparedness by the next decade. The goal must be based on the strong European defense industries and on shared instruments of financing, said the declaration.
Finland and France called for "the emergence of a genuine common European strategic culture based on defence cooperation with agreed mutual dependence."
Commenting on the declaration, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila underlined that the declaration takes up the mutual solidarity that is mentioned in the Lisbon treaty.
Talking to the media, Sipila deplored that "to many countries in Europe, European defense cooperation has been meaning crisis management". Macron said Finland and France shared the same threat analysis.
The declaration defined that "all bilateral or multilateral cooperation must make it possible to deal head-on with the terrorist threat, hybrid threats and power policies."
Finland and France said that the intervention initiative launched by France aims at promoting the birth of a joint European strategic culture and to strengthen the ability of Europeans to react jointly to threats, in addition to "existing frameworks, including EU or NATO operations".
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HIGHLITED
Finland and France also published a declaration on promoting artificial intelligence. "Europe should adopt a stronger research and innovation policy. This goal must show in all activities. Both President Macron and I are prepared to roll up our sleeves and work hard to deepen European cooperation," Prime Minister Sipila said.
In the initiative, Finland and France urge EU member states to look at the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence more systematically and to respond to citizens' concerns relating to the ethical questions linked to artificial intelligence, for instance. "The EU must promote fair, participatory and humane digitalisation", said the declaration.
During the visit, Macron carried out talks both with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Juha Sipila.