EU could lead to fewer Finnish diplomatic missions around the world
Javier Solana
|
Erkki Tuomioja
|
|
|
The proposed establishment of a Foreign Ministry for the European Union could lead to a reduction of national diplomatic missions in different countries. The new EU body is expected to cover all areas of the world, with a staff rising to more than 5,000.
The development could lead to pressure on Finland to reduce the number of its diplomatic missions around the world. However, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) says that there will not be any immediate impact on Finnish missions around the world.
Under a draft proposal by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Javier Solana, the EU High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the "desks" of the EU Ministry for Foreign Affairs should cover "all areas and states of the world".
In addition, the ministry would have separate "theme desks" responsible for human rights, the fight against terrorism, and relations with international organisations such as the United Nations.
The information is based on a plan seen by Helsingin Sanomat. It was dated in early March.
Brian Crowe, the former EU foreign affairs envoy, said that the move will eventually reduce the number of national embassies of EU countries as the different countries begin noticing that maintaining separate diplomatic missions alongside EU embassies is not cost-effective.
He predicts that in five years the position of an ambassador of the EU will be much more important than that of the ambassador of a national government.
The situation has been "followed closely" at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
While Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja says that the launching of the EU foreign finistry will have no immediate impact on Finland and its diplomatic missions, he does believe that globalisation means that Finland could also benefit from EU resources in countries where Finland does not have a diplomatic mission.
However, he also notes that consular services will continue to be part of national jurisdiction.
While Finnish political leaders have not made any decisions on the future of Finnish diplomatic missions around the world, Undersecretary of State Hannu Himanen of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs says that the Finnish network might become more sparse in the future.
According to Himanen, the reduction in the number of Finnish missions would require a sense of confidence that the EU missions are capable of handling the tasks of national representations.
"According to present information, I do not believe that all member states would be able to give up all of their representations around the world. We are not forming an EU federation here", Himanen says.
Finnish MEP Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition) is in favour of setting up an EU foreign ministry, because the EU is now a great power in both development aid and economics, which means that the body has a significant amount of interests to defend around the world.
"For small countries this is a win in the lottery, because they will have access to services that they would otherwise not be able to afford", he says.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 18.3.2005 - TODAY |
 EU could lead to fewer Finnish diplomatic missions around the world |
|
