BRUSSELS — The European Union should stay the course to create a joint intelligence agency by building trust among national spy services, a senior adviser to the bloc on its security and crisis response plans has warned.

“If we can build enough trust, we can also build the agency,” former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told POLITICO in an interview.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tapped Niinistö last year to draft a report on how the EU could strengthen its civilian and defense preparedness in an increasingly unpredictable world — similar to the advisory reports penned by former Italian premiers Mario Draghi on Europe’s competitiveness problem and Enrico Letta on the future of the EU’s single market.

Niinistö’s report, published one year ago this Thursday, recommended creating a “fully fledged intelligence cooperation service” at the EU level to bridge gaps between national agencies and improve early warning capabilities.

Europe is seeking to bolster its joint intelligence capabilities as it faces a crisis in relations with the United States and a growing threat from Russia. In the past year, many national capitals have embedded intelligence officials in their Brussels representation offices and the European Union’s in-house intelligence unit has started briefing top-level officials.

But security services have deep, decades-old trust issues. New revelations that Hungarian intelligence officials disguised as diplomats tried to infiltrate the EU institutions show how governments within the EU still keep close watch over each other.

“The idea of a European intelligence agency, it is more for the future and we have to develop toward that,” Niinistö acknowledged.

Since publishing his report, the European Commission came out with the Preparedness Union Strategy in May to better anticipate, prevent, and respond to hybrid threats including cyberattacks, sabotage, disinformation campaigns and the impact of climate change. It also announced the ReArm Europe plan, a €800 billion initiative to boost European defense spending and military readiness.

Coming to grips with war

The 77-year-old statesman said Europeans should get used to the idea of war in order to allow governments to scale up their defenses.

“My ideal situation is that people in Europe — all over Europe — understand that security is the foundation of everything,” Niinistö said, adding he “would like to see a change of mindset.”

For Niinistö, the challenge is not only political but psychological. Democracies, he noted, move at the pace of public opinion — and without broad recognition of the need for stronger defenses, governments will struggle to act decisively.

“To a certain extent, I think it’s developing positively — that people, even in countries not located on the frontline with Russia, start to understand why it is important,” he said.

Niinistö stepped down as president in 2024. He steered Finland through its NATO accession, which was completed in April 2023.

The former president pointed to shifting global dynamics. He cited the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin as evidence that China is seeking to project political as well as military power on the world stage, as it pushed for a“fairer multipolar world” and tighter security cooperation with members. “That was a clear message,” he said.

The former Finnish leader warned that Europe can no longer afford to rely indefinitely on the United States for its protection. Washington, he noted, is increasingly preoccupied with other regions, which would leave Europe more exposed in the years ahead.

“Europe needs to be able to take care of itself by developing its own capabilities,” Niinistö said. “This is a major question for us Europeans in the future — how much can we take care of ourselves for our security, information, and technology?”

“You have to be able to cooperate with your friends,” he added, “but you also have to be able to work alone — in case your friends are more active elsewhere.”