Anneli Jäätteenmäki and the missing medal

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By Unto Hämäläinen
     
      Right from the outset I must reveal that the issue at hand is a small one, but nevertheless interesting.
      On Independence Day President Tarja Halonen awarded a total of 5,571 medals. That’s quite a bit of beautiful metal and fine silk.
     
The highest honour went to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) who received the Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland.
      It is a very prized medal. During the time of independence about 100 Finns have received it.
      The Prime Minister wore the medal for the first time on the same evening, at the President’s Independence Day reception.
      The pictures on television and in the newspapers showed the impressive medal on the lapel of the Prime Minister’s dinner jacket, and the long blue silk band crossed over from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist.
     
The President was following an old tradition by awarding the Grand Cross to Vanhanen. Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen got the same honour in 1996, Prime Minister Esko Aho got it in 1992, and Harri Holkeri in 1988.
      The Grand Cross was also awarded to previous Prime Ministers, including Mauno Koivisto, Martti Miettunen, Kalevi Sorsa, Keijo Liinamaa, Teuvo Aura, Johannes Virolainen, Ahti Karjalainen and V.J. Sukselainen.
     
Is anyone missing?
      Yes. The previous Prime Minister, Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Centre), has not received the Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland.
      If the old tradition had been followed, Jäätteenmäki would have been awarded the medal on Independence Day this year.
      Granted, she was Prime Minister only for two months in the spring of 2003, but she did hold the office.
      It is understandable that Jäätteenmäki could not be awarded such a medal on Independence Day last year, because the Iraq affair that led to her resignation from the office of Prime Minister was still going on.
     
This year the impediments to granting Jäätteenmäki the Grand Cross have gone away. Helsinki District Court acquitted her in March.
      Presidential advisor Martti Manninen, who supplied Jäätteenmäki with confidential documents, was fined, but no wrongdoing was found in Jäätteenmäki’s actions.
      In June Jäätteenmäki had her popularity measured in the elections for the European Parliament. She won by a landslide: nearly 150,000 Finns voted for her. She was elected to the European Parliament for five years.
      The people have spoken - or what?
      The President of the Republic decides alone on the granting of honours. For some reason President Halonen decided to sidestep Jäätteenmäki on Independence day. Perhaps the President will explain her decision.
     
Anneli Jäätteenmäki was not seen at the President’s Independence Day reception, even though her status as a former Prime Minister and former Speaker of Parliament would have entitled her to an invitation to the event for the rest of her life.
      On the morning of Independence Day Jäätteenmäki gave the speech at the flag-raising ceremony on Helsinki’s Observatory Hill. By the evening she was already in Brussels.
      At the end of her speech Jäätteenmäki quoted the finnish novelist and playwright Aleksis Kivi: "Lamentation and sorrow will not help here - only hard work and action."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.12.2004


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Jäätteenmäki acquitted - Manninen convicted over Iraq leak (19.3.2004)

UNTO HÄMÄLÄINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
unto.hamalainen@hs.fi