Discussion between Prime Minister Sipilä and President Tusk

On Monday 9 October Prime Minister Sipilä had a telephone conversation with European Council President Donald Tusk about the Council’s future work. Prime Minister Sipilä told President Tusk about the key issues for Finland in the processes concerning the future of the EU.

According to Prime Minister Sipilä, the EU leaders should focus on concrete matters and work systematically and with a clear goal in mind.

- Our priority is to look for concrete answers to the citizens’ concerns and aim for more efficient decision-making. In the work on the EU’s future we can still build on the principles and goals established in Rome in March, Prime Minister Sipilä said.

The discussion on the future must follow two separate tracks.

- In the first the focus is on the legislative work we have now under way, while the second is concerned with longer-term visions. The visionary perspective may not interfere with completing the current legislative processes, Sipilä said.

Prime Minister Sipilä also pointed out that, instead of any smaller groups, the EU countries must continue the discussion on the future together. Prime Minister Sipilä and President Tusk agreed on these priority issues for the EU’s future and the work that needs to be done on them.

Inquiries: Riikka Pakarinen, Special Adviser (EU Affairs), tel. + 358 40 580 0833