COMMENTARY: Another Väyrynen sequel

But is he a Rocky, Rambo, or Batman?

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By Jaakko Lyytinen
     
      The Centre Party has an historic opportunity to choose a man to be the Prime Minister of Finland who, in his own mind, combines the willpower of an action hero, the tenacity of a master boxer, and the mysteriousness of a comic book figure.
      “In EU matters I felt that I was Rambo, Rocky and Batman. I felt that I was working on behalf of the right cause, and that I was facing an overwhelming opponent, who was using very dirty tricks against me”, said Paavo Väyrynen in an interview with the Batman comic magazine in 1995.
     
The cause that he was referring to was the 1994 thriller, when Parliament was supposed to give its approval to the EU accession treaty, but Väyrynen - who was adamantly opposed to EU membership - joined a couple of other Members of Parliament in a filibuster that continued day and night. With him he had a Batman blanket which he had borrowed from his son.
     
A couple of weeks after the episode, Väyrynen was ready to go to the European Parliament. Some may have thought that he would have disappeared into the labyrinth of corridors in Brussels.
      But he did not, and he has made so many comebacks that he leaves the Finnish rock band Dingo far behind.
      Väyrynen’s comebacks have also succeeded.
      This past week, the honorary chairman of the Centre Party signed up for the party’s chairmanship race.
      “Veteran bruiser seeks Finnish leadership” was the headline in a story by Reuters news agency. Reuters also said that Väyrynen is one of the most controversial politicians in Finland.
      So what is it that is behind the reputation of the 63-year-old Paavo Väyrynen?
     
He was elected to Parliament at the age of 23, appointed as a minister at 29, and elected as party leader at 33.
      His 40 years in politics have been ample time to establish a reputation.
      Let’s go through the most notable ones.
     
The Vladimirov affair of 1981: Väyrynen tried to enlist the help of Viktor Vladimirov, a KGB man at the Soviet Embassy, for help in the presidential campaign of Ahti Karjalainen.
     
Portable cabin, 1982: Several Members of Parliament had collected per diems intended for members living outside of Helsinki, under false pretences.
      However, Väyrynen became the focus of attention, after reporting his domicile as Keminmaa in the north of Finland. The home that was found there was a cabin on skids with just a couple of square metres of floor space.
      In reality, the Väyrynen family lived in an apartment in the centre of Helsinki of more than 170 square metres.
     
Secret agreement, 1986: After falling out with the leaders of the Social Democratic Party, Väyrynen tried to prepare for a centre-right government with the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People’s Party, which would take power after Parliamentary elections in the spring of 1987.
      The secret agreement never materialised, and the Centre Party ended up in opposition.
     
Media game 1994: After finishing third in the Presidential elections, Väyrynen accused the media of “criminal” action. On the eve of the election, in a news broadcast of the MTV3 television network, the chairman of the Greater Finland association had claimed that Väyrynen had been behind a diplomatic note that Russia had sent to Finland.
     
After that defeat Väyrynen went to the European Parliament, and Finnish politics was left with a Rocky, Batman, and Rambo-sized hole. In 2007 he came back, and what a comeback it was!
      Väyrynen was named Minister of Foreign Trade [after first declaring tetchily that without a suitable ministerial appointment he would not take up his seat in Parliament], and soon he may be the Prime Minister, if the Centre Party’s rank-and-file so desires.
      During the past week Väyrynen has basked in the limelight.
      On Tuesday he taught the announcer on Radio Rock some history.
      Väyrynen revealed that on the occasions that President Urho Kekkonen fell down in the last years of his presidency, the mishaps were not caused by his being “a stumbling old coot”, but rather because of his poor eyesight.
      Väyrynen made no mention of the fact that Kekkonen wrote about his memory lapses in his diary already in 1972, and that the problems in his brain circulation were diagnosed in 1977.
     
Väyrynen’s controversial reputation stems from his tenacity and idiosyncratic character, and also from the well-known fact that he has never, ever been wrong.
      For his partners in the government, Väyrynen could be an exciting challenge.
      But if Väyrynen wins the race for the Centre Party leadership, will Finland get a Rambo, a Rocky, or a Batman as Prime Minister?
      Rambo was a mistreated Vietnam War veteran. Paavo is a mistreated Cold War veteran.
      Rocky would be knocked down, but in the end, he always got up again, just like Paavo.
      Batman, meanwhile, is a hero in tights, transformed into a camp hero, and efforts have been made to turn him into an action movie hero worthy of being taken seriously. Paavo fits this role as well.
      Plenty of sequels have been made about all three characters. According to rumours, the fifth Rambo will be ready in 2011.
      Perhaps the Finnish Prime Minister might be invited to the première!
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.1.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Paavo Väyrynen seeks return to Centre Party leadership (20.1.2010)
  COLUMN: Better the devil we know heading the government (16.1.2010)
  COLUMN: The return of the strongman (20.1.2010)
  MP-elect wants "influential" position or he will return to European Parliament (28.3.2007)

Links:
  Paavo Väyrynen (Wikipedia)

JAAKKO LYYTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jaakko.lyytinen@hs.fi