Finland assumes the EU Presidency, July-December 1999

Finland assumes the EU Presidency, July-December 1999

Finland's Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen gave journalists an overview of the programme of the Finnish EU Presidency on Thursday, 24 June 1999. Below is the press release issued after the occasion:

Mr Lipponen said that external and internal challenges facing the Union meant that the Finnish Presidency has its work cut out. 'There are a huge amount of issues that have to be dealt with'.

These are described in a forty-page programme, and the Prime Minister went through its seven main headings summarising those areas where the Finnish Presidency intends to pursue specific measures aimed at deepening European integration. Mr Lipponen said that the credo of his country's Presidency was that of 'a strong and open Europe into the new millennium'. But he pointed out that EU citizens expect more than symbolic rhetoric and want to see definite progress in the work of the Union.

Mr Lipponen said that although the low turn-out in voting for elections to the European Parliament was a 'serious concern', he did not see as a vote of no-confidence in the Union as a whole or in its progressive integration.

The Prime Minister said that increasing integration does not mean that more power will become centralised in Brussels, but that, on the contrary, states would have more of a stake in the development of the Community. He stressed the importance of the Union for small countries, and spoke of the need to resist attempts by larger state actors to behave as a directorate within the Community.

The Presidency programme aims to make headway with the enlargement process by starting accession negotiations with new applicant countries, and to start preparations for the next Inter-Governmental Conference to further develop the Union's decision-making to meet the needs of its expanded membership

Reform

The transparency and efficiency of the Union will be taken up by increasing public access to Union documents, upgrading the functioning of the Council, and with the tangled area of administrative reform - including the revamping of the Commission. Mr Lipponen said that Finland supports the proposals for the latter put forward by the Commission's new President, Romano Prodi.

On EMU and economic growth, the Finnish Presidency will try to ensure the stability of the euro, and strengthen the co-ordination of economic policy and the internal market. A key task will be to work out the employment guidelines for 2000, which will be the subject of a special summit meeting during Portugal's EU Presidency. The Finnish Presidency will, in addition, continue work to prevent harmful taxation and to reach a principle agreement for a 'framework directive' on minimum tax levels for energy products. Further measures on transport integration, agricultural competitiveness, food safety, sustainable fisheries and forestry are also expected.

Information edge

Mr Lipponen said that the Finnish Presidency will stress ways to advance the spread of information, education and research technology. He noted that the development of IT as a Union concern would also have a positive impact on making the EU more open and transparent.

The tasks of the Presidency on environment and sustainable development centre on efforts to bring the EU more clearly into line with commitments, by promoting negotiations on the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and of the Kyoto Protocol. Attention will be given to integrating issues of environment and sustainable development into energy, transport and agricultural policy.

On the social dimension, efforts will focus on making minimum provisions for working life, co-ordinating social security, promoting equality and non-discrimination - especially through gender mainstreaming - and reforming the Community's health strategy.

In the areas of freedom, security and justice, the Presidency will implement a comprehensive immigration policy and seek to harmonise asylum policy within the Community. Improving access to justice by individuals and combating cross-border crime are also on the agenda.

External relations

In developing the Union's external relations, efforts will be made during the Presidency to carry out consistent policies. These include forming common strategies for the Western Balkans, Mediterranean and Ukraine, as well as implementing the current one on relations with Russia. Mr Lipponen drew attention to the need for the Union to ensure stability, change and reconstruction in Kosovo as well as in Yugoslavia as a whole.

In the area of security policy, the Presidency will work towards developing the crisis management capacity of the Union. During the Presidency, negotiations will be completed on the successor to the Lomé convention on relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The Northern Dimension and relations with other regions and with international organisations will also be pursued. Human rights will be more firmly set in the context of the Community's external relations, with the publication of the first human rights report and the holding of an EU human rights forum.

For the full text of the Finnish EU Presidency Programme see http://www.presidency.finland.fi/ (click on 'Programme')

For information sources on the EU Presidency and the European Council see Section 2.4 in 'Recent references' in each issue of European Access. In European Access Plus carry out an 'Advanced search' and insert 2.4 in 'Subject number'.