Foreign relations of Finland
Open-knowledge reference entry
The foreign relations of Finland are the responsibility of the president of Finland, who leads foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Implicitly the government is responsible for internal policy and decision making in the European Union. Within the government, preparative discussions are conducted in the government committee of foreign and security policy (ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittinen ministerivaliokunta), which includes the Prime Minister and at least the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence, and at most four other ministers as necessary. The committee meets with the President as necessary. Laws concerning foreign relations are discussed in the parliamentary committee of foreign relations (ulkoasiainvaliokunta, utrikesutskottet). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements the foreign policy.
History
Early independence
In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated the throne, which led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and left the Grand Duchy of Finland without a grand duke. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in November, Finland declared independence in December 1917. Soviet Russia was the first to recognize Finland on 4 January 1918, followed shortly by Sweden, France, and Germany.
In late January 1918, Finnish socialists launched a civil war with the support of Russian Bolsheviks.
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This entry incorporates text from “Foreign relations of Finland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.