Kultaranta Talks 2024 to begin on next Thursday with the theme Resetting Europe in the Evolving World Order

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press release 36/2024
7 June 2024

President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb will host the Kultaranta Talks on 13–14 June 2024 at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. The discussions will focus on resetting Europe in the evolving world order.

The two-day event will begin with an international day examining Europe from different perspectives and analysing European foreign and security policy. The day will be hosted by Peter Wolodarski, editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter. The second day of the event will focus on Finland’s foreign and security policy and Finland’s global role in various international contexts. The day will be hosted by journalist Jan Andersson.

President Stubb will open the event on Thursday 13 June at 1.45 pm with opening remarks, after which he and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte will hold the first debate of the day. The debate will cover issues such as global developments and the direction of Europe after the European Parliament elections.

The second debate on Thursday, starting at 3.15 pm, will deal with the internal dynamics of Europe. The debate will feature Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. The moderator of the discussion will be Richard Milne, Nordic and Baltic correspondent at the Financial Times.

In the third and final debate of the day, starting at 4.45 pm, the subject will be the global role of Europe. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen will discuss this topic. The discussion will be moderated by Comfort Ero, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group.

On Friday 14 June at 9.15 am, the event will continue with a debate between President Stubb and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Finland facing a new era.

The second discussion of the day will start at 10.45 am dealing with Finland as part of the Global West. The topic will be addressed by Heidi Hautala, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Janne Kuusela, Director General of the Defence Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence, and Timo Miettinen, Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki. The moderator of the debate will be Katri Makkonen, Senior Advisor at Miltton Oy.

The last debate will begin at 12.15 pm, and the topic will be Finland as a global partner. The panellists will be Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Ambassador of the Embassy of Finland to Beijing, Tytti Tuppurainen, Chair of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group and Janne Taalas, Chief Executive Officer at CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. The moderator of the discussion is Annastina Haapasaari, Editor-in-Chief of the online magazine The Ulkopolitist.

The Kultaranta Talks will end with closing remarks by the President Stubb by 1.30 pm.

This year, around 100 participants from various sectors of society have been invited to the event. Participants include national and international policymakers, researchers, representatives of public administration, trade and industry, civil society organisations and the media.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company will broadcast the event live on Yle TV1 and Yle Areena.