Minister Lehtomäki at the Clingendael Institute of the Netherlands
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Priorities of Finland's EU Presidency
Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the next six months, Finland will be leading the European Union at a time when it is searching for common ground on which to define a political agenda for Europe's future. The Union today is standing at a crossroads. Finland has identified its political priorities in response to major challenges that the Union is facing now and will face in years to come.
Firstly, we want to improve Europe’s competitiveness in the global economy.
Secondly, we want to strengthen the Union as an Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice.
Thirdly, we will concentrate on reinforcing the Union's role in external relations, especially in the Western Balkans and in its relations with Russia. As a fourth priority, the Finnish Presidency will move ahead with discussions on the future of Europe. We will start consultations regarding the future of the Constitutional Treaty in order to explore the alternative ways forward. The two-track approach decided by the European Council will be our guideline in this question. We will also endeavour to confirm the consensus on the EU’s enlargement process.
We will work hard to achieve concrete results in pursuing these goals. The words “concrete results” are used often, perhaps too often, but I take the view that visible results, results that affect the lives of our citizens, are the best evidence of the EU functioning properly and producing added value.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
European competitiveness depends on our ability to respond to the challenges of globalisation and demographic change. Europe needs a new economic dynamism in order to improve its performance in global competition and to safeguard European welfare systems.
Finland will especially concentrate on developing a comprehensive innovation policy and a European energy policy. We will also direct our attention to the further development of the internal market. The internal market is the core of European integration but we must admit that it is not functioning too well at the moment. A properly functioning internal market is needed not only for services but for innovations and energy as well.
During our Presidency we aim to adopt a new approach to Europe’s innovation policy. Investments in research and development are crucial but not enough. The challenge is to turn these investments into innovative and saleable products and services. This requires a variety of measures, including standards, public procurement, greater mobility of resources and better cooperation between the research and business communities.
A debate on innovation has already started this week at the informal ministerial meeting on competitiveness. We aim at adopting recommendations on further work in the December European Council. Innovation will also be the main theme at the informal meeting of the Heads of State or Government in Lahti on October the 20th.
On the issue of energy we will pave the way for decisions to be made in spring 2007 on developing the EU’s energy policy. The first priority during the autumn is to improve the achievement of energy policy objectives - such as security of supply, competitiveness, and combating climate change - through external relations.
We will place special emphasis on developing energy dialogue with Russia. The external dimension of energy will also be a theme in Lahti, and President Putin's presence will provide an excellent opportunity to deepen the dialogue. Moreover, energy issues as well as climate change are at the top of the agenda for all summits with third countries, including the EU-Russia summit and the ASEM summit.
The Finnish Presidency will work hard with the key legislative dossiers on the table. I am glad that even though we have some unanswered questions about the EU’s future, the EU has been able to make progress with very important and difficult matters such as the Services Directive and REACH - the chemicals regulation. These are good examples of the kind of concrete results we need now. Finland will continue this work.
The recent Council agreement on the Services Directive is a carefully balanced compromise - a result of long and difficult negotiations. It is largely based on the European Parliament's vote and we now aim at adoption of the Directive directly in the second reading in the European Parliament. The same applies to REACH. We are also seriously looking for a compromise on the working time directive. Political will and flexibility in all member states are needed to achieve this.
Finally, in terms of competitiveness, I believe that also the external dimension is essential. A successful outcome from the WTO/Doha negotiations is necessary. The coming weeks are crucial in succeeding in the negotiations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Finnish Presidency plans to adopt political guidelines for strengthening the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Combating terrorism, serious cross-border crime, and illegal immigration, as well as improving the access of citizens to justice, are among the top themes when Europeans are asked where the EU should do more. This is one of those areas of concern where the Union very clearly provides added value.
The Tampere European Council in 1999 set the main objectives and principles for an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. They were reviewed and updated in the Hague Programme which was one of the outstanding achievements of the Dutch EU Presidency. Now the goal is to make a comprehensive political evaluation of what has been achieved so far and determine where the most serious delivery gaps are.
On the basis of this assessment the European Council in December will give political guidelines for further work and identify a handful of key priorities where progress is especially needed. Our main objective in this endeavour is to explore the possibilities to improve decision-making in police and criminal law cooperation. We should make use of the possibility offered by the Nice Treaty to move from unanimity to qualified majority voting. Due to the unanimity requirement decision-making is now too slow and legislation often watered down as a result of complex compromises.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Finland will place emphasis on improving the efficiency, coherence and visibility of the Union's external policies. We will develop and implement practical measures to do this together with the Commission, the High Representative, and Member States. The main challenge is to develop a unified approach to using all the EU’s policy instruments - both external and internal - in order to strengthen Europe’s international influence and visibility.
During our Presidency, Russia and Western Balkans are for various reasons high on the EU's agenda. The Union’s agenda in the Western Balkans, especially Kosovo, is exceptionally demanding this year. We need to give all possible support to the efforts of the UN to establish the future status of Kosovo. Furthermore, we need to define the future EU presence in Kosovo and ensure adequate resources to support implementation of the negotiated status.
We are committed to the European Perspective of the Western Balkan countries and we will support them towards the EU within the framework of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
As for Russia, Finland aims at increasing concrete cooperation on the basis of the road-maps of the four common spaces. Key topics here include energy, environment, customs cooperation and student mobility. We aim also at reaching an agreement at the EU-Russia Summit in November to begin negotiations on renewing the present Partnership and Cooperation Agreement after 2007. Negotiations could start during the German Presidency. A more effective and binding arrangement is now needed.
During our Presidency the Northern Dimension will be transformed into a genuinely common policy among the EU, Russia, Norway, and Iceland. This is an important development which I believe will strengthen the commitment of all parties to implementation of the policy. We plan to finalize and adopt a new political document for the Northern Dimension this year.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Finland will continue and deepen discussions on the future of Europe. As for the Constitutional Treaty, we will start consultations on exploring possible ways forward with reform of the Treaty, after the first phase of the reflection period, as agreed in the June European Council. Work will be done in cooperation with Germany, which takes over the Presidency from Finland.
The reform process must be put in motion again, but we are well aware of the sensitivities in Member States. We do not have any illusions on how far we can progress during our Presidency, but the main thing is to gradually start mapping out ways forward. The consultations will pave the way for a report to be submitted during the German Presidency.
Enlargement will feature on our agenda in many ways. In my view, enlargement is one of the Union’s biggest success stories. Enlargement is a key instrument in ensuring peace and stability, and it is also Europe’s strategic response to globalisation. Surveys show that the last enlargement round has economically benefited both the new and the old Member States.
A general enlargement debate will be organised in December as was agreed in the European Council. It will cover all aspects of further enlargement, including the absorption capacity of the Union and the quality of the enlargement process. I want to underline that this debate will neither aim at creating new criteria for enlargement, nor should it lead to withdrawal from commitments that we have made.
It is important that the Union remains an open Community. The EU needs to ensure its absorption capacity. At the same time it is vital, and in the interest of everyone, that accession takes place only when the applicant country fulfils all the membership criteria. We need to communicate better the benefits of enlargement to our citizens.
In the autumn, the EU will assess Romania's and Bulgaria's readiness to join the EU in January 2007 and possible use of safeguards. The date of accession will be determined on the basis of the Commission's monitoring reports. This procedure should provide a stimulus that motivates the countries both before and after membership.
We will also continue accession talks with Croatia and Turkey in accordance with general enlargement principles. The EU has also agreed to review, in 2006, Turkey’s progress in implementing the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement. In the light of recent events, it is possible that the Turkish accession process may encounter serious difficulties, but as the Presidency, we are committed to taking the accession negotiations forward.
Distinguished guests,
In addition to the priorities I have just mentioned, we will also pay special attention to transparency in decision making and good quality in legislation. Improving the Union’s working efficiency is a crucial theme of our Presidency. I believe that together with delivering results, the way in which things are done is a vital factor in increasing public confidence in the Union. The EU needs to demonstrate its ability to work in an efficient and transparent manner.
The principle of subsidiarity has been highlighted by many Member States, including the Netherlands. Our approach to better implementation of this principle will be practical, as we see better regulation and transparency among the best means to involve this principle genuinely in the Union’s work.
I thank you for this opportunity to present to you the priorities of the Finnish Presidency. Now I am ready to answer your questions.