Finland–Germany relations

Finland–Germany relations are the bilateral relations between the Finland and Germany. Both countries are part of the European Union, are signatories of the Schengen Agreement, and are members of the eurozone and NATO. Germany fully supported Finland's application to join NATO, which resulted in membership on 4 April 2023.^[1]

Finland–Germany relations

Germany	Finland
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Germany, Helsinki	Embassy of Finland, Berlin

History

President of Finland Mauno Koivisto and Tellervo Koivisto visit in Dresden, East Germany on 30 September 1987

Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin with Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz on 16 March 2022 in Berlin, Germany

The grave of Germans who fell in the Finnish Civil War in the Battle of Hyvinkää in 1918

Relations between both nations began after the German Empire recognised the newly independent Finnish state on January 4, 1918. In the ensuing Finnish Civil War, Germany played a prominent role siding with the White Army and training Finnish Jägers.^[2] In one of the decisive battles of the war, German troops took Helsinki in April 1918.^[3]

During World War II, the secret protocol in Molotov–Ribbentrop pact enabled the Winter War (1939–40), a Soviet attack on Finland. Finland and Nazi Germany were "co-belligerents" against Soviet Union during the Continuation War (1941–44), but a separate peace with Soviet Union led to the Finnish-German Lapland War (1944–45).

Finland recognised both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (West and East Germany) in 1972 and it established diplomatic relations with East Germany in July 1972 and with West Germany in January 1973.^[4] In July 2022, Germany fully approved Finland's application for NATO membership.^[5]

Resident diplomatic missions

• Finland has an embassy in Berlin.
• Germany has an embassy in Helsinki.

Finland also has a consulate general in Hamburg, two honorary consulates general in Düsseldorf and Munich.

• 
  Embassy of Finland in Berlin
• 
  Embassy of Germany in Helsinki

See also

• Foreign relations of Finland
• Foreign relations of Germany
• Germans in Finland
• Kingdom of Finland (1918)