With his proposal to close the door to female soldiers in order to ward off the “disastrous consequences” of the state savings program, Finland's defense minister has triggered national outcry among politicians, journalists and ordinary Finns alike.
Finnish Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö of the newly founded Blue Reform party has listed a temporary stop for female volunteers as a means to counter the planned savings program, which he ventured, would hit the Finnish defense “unreasonably hard,” national broadcaster Yle reported.
According to Niinistö, it is not possible to maintain a credible defense in the current era, which he called “insecure.”
“I'm not going to repeat the same mistakes that were made by the former government when garrisons were taken down and disbanded,” Niinistö pledged, stating that future savings measures cannot and won't affect the basic operations of the national defense.
According to Niinistö, a halt in drafting women would save €4 million ($4.7 million) a year. Enrolling women in just one of the two annual drafts would, by contrast, save half of this sum.
Crisis operations abroad are another area where Niinistö sees an opportunity for saving funds. At present, Finland has about 500 people involved in various international crisis missions, the majority of whom are stationed in Lebanon and Iraq.
“We should remain in the major operations and get out of smaller assignments around the world,”…
