Halonen responds to criticism: Supporting the poor is in Finland’s interest

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President Tarja Halonen has responded to criticism levelled at her by Risto Penttilä, director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA. In Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat Penttilä suggested that Halonen’s high-profile involvement in issues of global solidarity undermine her position in Finland’s foreign policy leadership.
      The President said that contrary to Penttilä’s article, Finland has good relations with the United States and Russia, and insisted that helping the poor of the world is compatible with promoting the Finnish national interest.
      Penttilä also criticised Halonen’s public stand against land mines. During a meeting with Finnish journalists in New York on Monday, Halonen noted that the issue of land mines is a matter for the government, not the President, and that it would be addressed in the government’s upcoming report on foreign and security policy.
      She also defended the present two-tier system of foreign policy decision-making, involving both the President and the government.
     
Halonen was in New York on Monday indulging in exactly what Penttilä had criticised her for - focusing on global issues. She was attending a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC), the World Trade Organisation, and the Bretton Woods Institution.
      On the question of Finland’s relations with the United States, Halonen pointed out that she had visited the US in February to attend the annual festival of Finnish-Americans, the FinnFest. There had never been a suggestion of meeting with US President George W. Bush, because Bush and everyone else in the United States are focused on the upcoming Presidential elections.
      "I have met Bush, and although Finland is an important country, one meeting per US Presidential term is quite good in my opinion", Halonen said.
      She also said that ministerial visits between the United States and Finland have been more frequent than those between the United States and Sweden, for instance.
     
Halonen expressed some amusement at Penttilä’s suggestion that she should either push for a constitutional change that would take away the President’s powers in foreign policy, or refrain from running for a second term in office.
      She had no comments about a possible second term, and added that no proposal would be forthcoming from her for a constitutional change on Presidential powers.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Halonen criticised as global do-gooder; PM Vanhanen comes to President’s defence (26.4.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat