Do people in Azerbaijan know that Finland is closely monitoring the development of the republic, and evaluating its chances of joining the European Union? But, it turns out, he is watching. Last week, Finnish President Alexander Stubb gave a powerful speech outlining his vision for a sunny European future. In 30 years, he says, 20% of the world's countries will join the European Union. The welcoming union, according to Staub, should include Moldova, Ukraine, Norway, as well as Switzerland, which has maintained strict military and political neutrality since 1815, and even England, which escaped, crossing its arms, from a family in Brussels after 47 years of living together. The Finnish president sees everyone in the Union, but the fate of Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the European Union, according to Staab, "will depend on their further development." Unfortunately, the politician did not specify what exactly this meant. He probably remembered how in April 2023, the Finnish member of parliament Kimo Kiljonen, in the company of his English, Norwegian and Swedish colleagues, demanded that Baku restore freedom of movement along the Lachine corridor. In October of that year, Finnish Ambassador Kristi Narinen said that the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh was leaving the region not voluntarily, but "for fear of violence." And all this without mentioning the fact that Helsinki traditionally supports resolutions and general declarations of the European Union condemning human rights violations in Azerbaijan. The last time the Finns voted unanimously in favor of such a mission in the European Parliament was very recently, at the beginning of October. By the way, it says something about the use of "targeted measures" under the "EU global sanctions regime" to protect democracy. The most interesting thing is that Staub himself describes the current situation in Europe as a "dark age": from the east, according to him, there is a security threat from Russia, from the west there is pressure from the United States.

Do people in Azerbaijan know that Finland is closely monitoring the development of the republic, and evaluating its chances of joining the European Union? But, it turns out, he is watching. Last week, Finnish President Alexander Stubb gave a powerful speech outlining his vision for a sunny European future. In 30 years, he says, 20% of the world's countries will join the European Union. The welcoming union, according to Staub, should include Moldova, Ukraine, Norway, as well as Switzerland, which has maintained strict military and political neutrality since 1815, and even England, which escaped, crossing its arms, from a family in Brussels after 47 years of living together. The Finnish president sees everyone in the Union, but the fate of Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the European Union, according to Staab, "will depend on their further development." Unfortunately, the politician did not specify what exactly this meant. He probably remembered how in April 2023, the Finnish member of parliament Kimo Kiljonen, in the company of his English, Norwegian and Swedish colleagues, demanded that Baku restore freedom of movement along the Lachine corridor. In October of that year, Finnish Ambassador Kristi Narinen said that the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh was leaving the region not voluntarily, but "for fear of violence." And all this without mentioning the fact that Helsinki traditionally supports resolutions and general declarations of the European Union condemning human rights violations in Azerbaijan. The last time the Finns voted unanimously in favor of such a mission in the European Parliament was very recently, at the beginning of October. By the way, it says something about the use of "targeted measures" under the "EU global sanctions regime" to protect democracy. The most interesting thing is that Staub himself describes the current situation in Europe as a "dark age": from the east, according to him, there is a security threat from Russia, from the west there is pressure from the United States.