Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) has been invited to brief the European Commission on Finnish experiences of the recession, and to explain what his government is doing to fight the recession. The invitation is a rare one; the Commission invites outsiders to speak at its meetings only three our four times a year.
Helsingin Sanomat has learned that the initiative for the visit came from Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The Commission especially wants to hear from Vanhanen how Finland made it through the recession of the 1990s and about Finnish experiences in reviving the banking sector, among other things.
Another theme of the discussion is Russia.
Vanhanen’s staff confirmed on Friday that there was an unofficial agreement on the meeting. An official invitation is expected in the coming days, at which time the details of the agenda will be ironed out.
The visit is expected to take place on January 28th. The time is appropriate in that Vanhanen has convened an extensive seminar on EU matters, which is to take place at Helsinki’s Finlandia Hall on the following Monday. The meeting in Brussels will mean that he will have fresh information from the highest level of the EU.
