Under Niinisto, Finland was transformed. It is set to change further under his successor

Finland has gone from Cold War buffer state to a key NATO frontier and a leading EU foreign policy voice

Finnish president Sauli Niinisto inspects the Rovaniemi Air Defence Battalion (Courtesy Riikka Hietajärvi/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland)

When Sauli Niinisto became Finland’s president 12 years ago, he looked forward to developing a European defence policy, pursuing “opportunities in China”, and preserving “an operating environment as…