Government Programme measures to reform national security
Finland’s security environment changed significantly when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Government Programme aims to strengthen national security and society’s resilience.
This page provides information about the Ministry of the Interior's projects to strengthen national security. The Government is also carrying out other projects to strengthen national security.
The Government will improve the protection of infrastructure critical to the functioning of society, and look into extending the use of security clearances to cover, in particular, work on critical infrastructure and technology.
The operating environment, which has changed permanently, requires that the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service be better equipped to anticipate and prevent threats to Finland's national security. For this reason, intelligence legislation will be revised with respect to intelligence powers and the right of access to information and disclosure.
The Government will draw up a national security strategy, which will be prepared under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior and the Secretariat of the Security Committee. The strategy strives to identify, through a broad-based and cross-administrative approach, immediate and proactive measures that are necessary for safeguarding national security.
In the project, the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the resilience of critical entities (Critical Entities Resilience Directive, CER), which entered into force in January 2023, was transposed into national law. The Act on the Protection of Infrastructure Critical to Society and on the Improvement of Resilience entered into force on 1 July, 2025.
The Commission published the EU Security Union Strategy in 2020. It outlines comprehensive measures to promote the resilience of critical entities in the physical and digital environment. The EU Member States should use harmonised procedures to define and identify the entities critical to the functioning of societies and improve their resilience. That will also improve the preparedness of the EU and its Member States for wide-ranging influence activities, such as hybrid threats.
The CER Directive introduces new requirements for Finland, including new official duties related to the identification and supervision of critical entities.
The scope of the Directive covers eleven sectors: energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructure, health, food, drinking water, waste water, digital infrastructure, public administration, and space.
Critical Infrastructure Protection and Crisis Resilience Act
Civilian intelligence legislation will be revised with respect to intelligence powers and the right of access to information and disclosure to meet the demands of the changed security and cyber environment.
The aim is to amend the provisions on firewalls to enable the sufficient disclosure of intelligence gathered by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service to the police and other public authorities that have the power to intervene concretely in activities that pose a serious threat to national security detected by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.
The intelligence powers of the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service will be updated to keep pace with technological advances.
Finland's operating environment has deteriorated. This is a result of Russia's war of aggression, which has heightened tensions between great powers and intensified Russia's hybrid actions against NATO member countries.
In order to effectively protect Finland's national security in a deteriorated operating environment, threats to national security must be taken into account better than before at the Government level and in cross-administrative cooperation between authorities.
The national security strategy will define key strategic measures and priorities for protecting national security in the medium and long term.
Schedule and objectives of projects related to national security
This table presents the projects related to national security under preparation at the Ministry of the Interior, their schedule and objectives.
Toimenpide | Aikataulu | Tavoite |
---|---|---|
Reform of the regulation of critical infrastructure | The amendment was approved on 13 June 2025 and it entered into force on 1 July 2025. | Enhance national security and the resilience of society. |
Reform of civilian intelligence legislation | Government proposals to be submitted in stages during 2025. The first government proposal was submitted on 16 April 2025. |
Revise civilian intelligence legislation to meet the demands of the changed security and cyber environment. |
Drawing up a national security strategy | Strategy to be published in autumn 2025. | Identify and assess the most serious threats against Finland in more efficient and extensive ways through cooperation across administrative boundaries. |