Unit for South-Eastern Europe and EU Enlargement

The Unit covers with issues concerning the following countries:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Holy See, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Türkiye.

Twinning and TAIEX activities also include: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Moldova, Palestine, Syria, Tunis, Ukraine and Russia.

The Unit is responsible for the following issues:

  • negotiations concerning EU enlargement and related issues
  • coordination of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) in respect of the Western Balkans
  • national coordination, guidance and advice related to EU Twinning and TAIEX activities
  • political, trade political, economic and development cooperation issues related to bilateral relations and EU relations within the competence of the unit
  • guidance of the Finnish missions based in the countries of the region
  • coordination of Finnish development policy and project cooperation in the Western Balkans and Türkiye
  • the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) and the Peace Process in the Western Balkans
  • the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe (SP SEE)

Email

  • EUR-40@gov.fi

Fax

  • +358 9 160 555 650

Personnel

Miia Lahti
Director
  • +358 295 350 543
  • +358 50 338 5647
Maria Filippenkova
Trainee
  • +358 29 535 0283

Western-Balkans, EU Enlargement, Romania, Bulgaria Team

Heli Hyypiä
Team Leader
  • +358 295 350 878
Jouni Hirvonen
Desk Officer
Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Holy See
  • +358 295 350 082
Jaakko Valjus
Desk Officer
North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • +358 295 350 805

Türkiye, Greece, Cyprus Team

Mikael Långström
Team Leader
  • +358 295 351 371
Marja Cruz
Desk Officer
Cyprus, Greece
  • +358 295 350 541

National Twinning and Taiex Coordination Team

The Twinning Team of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs helps agencies with the preparation and implementation of projects. You can contact us whenever you need more information on Twinning.

Tiina Järvelä
Specialist
TAIEX coordination
  • twinning@formin.fi
  • +358 295 351 555
Heidi Lempinen
Specialist
Twinning coordination
  • +358 295350 669

E-mail addresses are in the form: forename.surname@gov.fi. Scandinavian characters are replaced by: ä=a, ö=o, å=a.