Finns cancel talks with lame-duck Commission

Date: 24/06/1999

By Gareth Harding
FINLAND has cancelled a high-level meeting with the European Commission next week because it sees "no point" in outlining the priorities of its EU presidency to a lame-duck executive.

Helsinki has, however, drawn up a list of 30 proposals which it expects Romano Prodi's team to publish in the autumn. The move is aimed at preventing complete policy paralysis during Finland's first three months at the helm of the Union.

Many of these are draft laws which have fallen victim to the slowdown in legislative activity which followed the Commission's resignation in March. They include new rules to protect personal data held by Union institutions, an action plan on nuclear waste management, a proposal to lay down minimum standards for dealing with asylum-seekers and guidelines for integrating new treaty provisions on public health into EU policy.

Finnish officials say that although the work programme has been drawn up with the current Commission, it has been given the green light by Prodi. "We are mainly working with the present team, because the future team does not exist yet," explained one.

Finland kicks off its presidency of the Union next Thursday (1 July) in unenviable circumstances. The current crop of Commissioners is not expected to be replaced until October, leaving a six-month power vacuum at the heart of the EU executive. The European Parliament is unlikely to get down to legislative business until the same month as MEPs focus at their first two plenaries on dividing up the assembly's top jobs and vetting would-be Commissioners. The fall-out from the war in Kosovo is also likely to take up much of the Finns' time during their six months in charge of Union business.

Nevertheless, the EU's northernmost country has set itself an ambitious agenda for its first-ever presidency of the Union. Enlargement is likely to be the Finns' number one priority as the EU prepares to decide which central and eastern European countries it can start accession talks with in December. Helsinki will also be left with the difficult task of drawing up plans to bring the war-torn countries of the southern Balkans into the European fold without offending the current candidates.

Another priority for Finland will be to ensure that citizens are given greater access to Union documents. The Amsterdam Treaty requires the Commission to draw up legislation in this area, but a draft regulation to implement this has been held up by the EU executive.

Justice and home affairs issues will also be high on the Union's agenda over the coming months as governments prepare for the summit of EU leaders in Tampere in October which will try to thrash out agreement on a range of sensitive issues which have been blocked in the Council of Ministers.