EVA wants Finland in EU vanguard
Experts propose ten-year assessment of Finland as EU member
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Experts of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA feel that Finland should not seek to be in the "core" of the European Union. According to a report published on Tuesday, such a core no longer exists in an enlarged EU.
Instead, EVA says that Finland should join the EU’s "vanguard" - a group of countries working together to promote a few issues that they consider the most important for the success of the EU.
The report, by seven EVA experts, notes that the EU is in the midst of a retro-phase: it is not drawing closer together as it did in the 1990s.
"Now the member states see the union as they did in the 1980s, when it was used primarily to promote the interests of the individual countries, which might also produce something for the common interest", writes Professor Esko Antola.
According to Antola, the EU is on the road of "differentiating unification", which means that the countries are moving toward monetary union at different paces.
In an increasingly disperse union EVA feels that Finland should focus on three issues. The first and most important is the competitiveness of the EU economy, without which there can be no welfare state.
EVA feels that Finland can afford to guide other EU countries, because Finland has implemented the recommendations for improving the EU’s competitiveness better than many others However, this alone is not seen to be sufficient.
"Even the best have not managed to attract investment or raise the employment level", noted Matti Vuoria, CEO of the pension insurance company Varma.
Finland’s second concern should be the international role of the EU. According to EVA, transatlantic ties should be fixed. This does not mean NATO membership, but rather trade policy and common values.
"Although values in the United States and Europe do not always appear to coincide, they are close to each other, compared with China or India, for instance", said EVA director Risto E.J. Penttilä.
The present disunity in the EU is also seen to hurt policy toward Russia, with old member states emphasising opportunities, while the new ones give warnings of the Russian threat. EVA feels that Finland could act as a bridge-builder in the EU’s policy toward Russia.
Third, EVA recommends mechanisms to whip member states into action; it is not enough just to talk about reform, if nothing happens. For that reason, the report calls for the establishment of an independent assessment body during the next Finnish EU Presidency - a "shame mechanism" - to evaluate the progress made by each member state in competition issues.
There is also a recommendation for another domestic working group to evaluate Finland’s ten years in the EU, and to look into the future.
No conflict was seen between the EU policies of the present government and the recommendations in the report.
Penttilä said that the issue is one of point of view: there should no longer be any argument on what group Finland should belong to in the EU - instead, Finland should chose what groups to join according to the issues at hand.
"One minister said ‘show me where the cores of the Union are’. The government, for its part, emphasises that Finland’s goal is to preserve the unity of the European Union. There is a grey area in between, which we should grab on to", Esko Antola said.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 10.11.2004 - TODAY |
 EVA wants Finland in EU vanguard |
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