More downs than ups for friendly Finns

Finland’s second stint holding the presidency of the EU has had more mixed results than the widely acclaimed first presidency in the second half of 1999.

This time around, the Finns’ turn in charge was always going to be something of a holding presidency, overshadowed by the impending handover to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is expected to relaunch negotiations on the EU constitution.

At the very top, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has not been as impressive a figure as Social Democrat Paavo Lipponen was in 1999. While Lipponen, in typically Finnish fashion, could be blunt and economical with words, Vanhanen’s lack of confidence in English detracted from his performance as president of the Council.

Despite low expectations at the start of the presidency, the Finns set themselves some substantial objectives. Their return has been patchy. They managed to get a deal on the services directive and the REACH chemicals regulation. On services this was mainly due to the political will in the Parliament to get a deal but the Finns did help in the final stages tidying up a number of loose ends. On REACH they oversaw the most complex stage of negotiations and a few heart-stopping moments when it looked like the entire package might collapse. Foreign policy issues proved the biggest test for the presidency.

The Finns managed to avoid the train crash warned of by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn - negotiations grinding to a complete halt and a furious reaction from Ankara. In one sense they found a way for the negotiations, which had effectively been suspended, to restart, getting agreement to go ahead with talks on 27 of the 35 ‘chapters’ or areas of EU law and policy. Having Rehn, a Finn, in charge of the enlargement dossier in the Commission undoubtedly helped prevent the issue getting out of control, although there is clearly still potential for a new crisis next year, if there is no movement from Ankara on recognising Cyprus or on ending the economic isolation of northern Cyprus, or no progress in negotiations.

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon right at the start of the summer presented Helsinki with a massive diplomatic challenge but Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja rose to the challenge. He oversaw the creation of possibly the EU’s most impressive military mission to date, with 11 EU member states contributing around two-thirds of the 15,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Relations with Russia proved tricky with Russian President Vladimir Putin able to take advantage of divisions among EU member states at the Lahti summit in 20 October and the EU-Russia summit on 24 November.

Finland’s second stint holding the presidency of the EU has had more mixed results than the widely acclaimed first presidency in the second half of 1999.

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