BACKGROUND: Suomi's rebuttal to Mauno Koivisto's memoirs
|
|
|
By Unto Hämäläinen
In the foreword to his book, Juhani Suomi says that archives closed in front of him as he was preparing to write a book about Mauno Koivisto. Already on the basis of his books on Urho Kekkonen it was clear that Suomi took a critical view of Koivisto.
The new book ended up being a rebuttal to Koivisto's memoirs.
The denial of access to archives did not stop Juhani Suomi. General Lauri Sutela allowed him to use his notes, and so did some others. Suomi has also been able to fall back on his own observations and notes that he made as a civil servant at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs responsible for relations with the Soviet Union.
It was a good vantage point, because relations with the Soviet Union dominated Finnish foreign policy into the early 1980s.
Policymaking took place on two tracks: there were public assurances of eternal friendship, but behind the scenes efforts focused on reducing pressure from Moscow.
There would not seem to be a single part of the 700-page book in which the Foreign Ministry would have expected something good to come out of Moscow.
For instance, officials at the Foreign Ministry had written statements in advance in case the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries would have occupied Poland in late 1981.
Another precarious situation was in 1983, when it was feared in Finland that the Soviet Union would demand military consultations under the FCMA treaty over opposing the threat posed by American cruise missiles. If such negotiations had taken place, Finland's status in the Western world would have collapsed.
Juhani Suomi paints a grim picture of Mauno Koivisto's first years as President. If Suomi is to be believed, the handling of foreign policy was initially quite messy. Uncertainty about his own position, and his own skills, led Koivisto to snap at the media and other critics.
Freer public debate on foreign policy did not ultimately please Koivisto, although he was praised for the greater openness in debate after the Kekkonen period.
During Koivisto's period of uncertainty, a power vacuum emerged in the foreign policy leadership, which Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa and Foreign Minister Paavo Väyrynen competed to fill. With Koivisto's help, Kalevi Sorsa defeated Paavo Väyrynen, and the Social Democratic Party crushed the Centre's powerful position in foreign policy matters. This embittered Väyrynen and led to a feud between the two parties.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.9.2005
More on this subject:
 Crowded road to Moscow - Juhani Suomi writes critical book of early Koivisto presidency
FACTFILE: Juhani Suomi - diplomat and researcher
UNTO HÄMÄLÄINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
unto.hamalainen@hs.fi
|
|
