“Membership of the EU and the euro is all about getting as far away as possible from Moscow. That has affected how we think for the past 20 years,” said Professor Tapio Raunio from Tampere University. The strategic imperative is to enmesh Finland as deeply as possible into every part of the Western system.

True Finn leader Mr Soini says the euro remains the “state religion” upheld by Finland’s elites. Their governing credibility is inextricably linked to EMU project. Most will die in a ditch to defend it.