Exhausted Kanerva cancels participation at conference in Estonia

Katainen and Vanhanen express continued support

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party) unexpectedly cancelled his planned participation in a high level foreign policy conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn on Sunday.
      Kanerva was to have taken part in a discussion on various issues, including the common EU foreign and security policy, together with the foreign ministers of Estonia and Latvia.
      The cancellation was announced by organisers of the Lennart Meri conference slightly before 11:00 Sunday morning. A Kanerva aide told Helsingin Sanomat that the reason for Kanerva's cancellation was exhaustion.
      Kanerva returned to Finland early in the afternoon.
      On Saturday evening, after arriving in Tallinn from the EU Foreign Ministers' conference in Slovenia, Kanerva took part in a dinner hosted by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
     
The conference, which carries the name of former Estonian President Lennart Meri, is a discussion forum focusing mainly on issues of foreign and security policy. Participants include politicians, researchers, and influential figures in foreign affairs in the European Union.
      Kanerva bowed out of the conference at the recommendation of National Coalition Party chairman, Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen, and his own aide. "I recommended to him to skip the seminar", said Kanerva's special aide Jori Arvonen. Katainen had also recommended to Kanerva that he cancel his participation in the conference.
      Arvonen would not say if Kanerva and Katainen would have discussed the latest turns of events in the furore over text messages sent by Kanerva to dancer Johanna Tukiainen.
     
Although Kanerva took the day off on Sunday, Arvonen says that he still plans to keep to his planned schedule on Monday, when he meets with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
      On Tuesday Kanerva is scheduled to take part in a plenary session of Parliament, and possibly a discussion with the National Coalition Party's Parliamentary group.
      At least two members of the group, Marja Tiura and Nenna Virkkunen have called for a discussion with Kanerva over the text message issue.
      The entertainment magazine Hymy has planned to publish more of Kanerva's text messages to Tukiainen in this week's issue.
      On Thursday, in his capacity as foreign minister of the country that holds the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kanerva leaves for the NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
     
On Saturday both party leader Jyrki Katainen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) reiterated their support for Foreign Minister Kanerva, after the advance publication of one of the text messages he sent Johanna Tukiainen.
      In its Saturday issue, the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat wrote that in the message, sent in the early hours of the 20th of February, Kanerva asks Tukiainen if she would like to "do it in some exciting place". "What could it be?" Kanerva's message continued, according to Ilta-Sanomat.
      At a press conference in connection with the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Slovenia, Kanerva had to explain the content of the somewhat ambiguous message, saying that the message was simply a response to a question that he had been asked.
     
Jyrki Katainen said in a statement to the Finnish News Agency STT that while Kanerva had behaved in a very poorly thought-out manner, Kanerva still enjoys his confidence.
      Prime Minister Vanhanen told MTV3 news that Kanerva's text messages are a private matter as long as they are personal.
      President Tarja Halonen also had to answer a question on the issue, in connection with the opening of the Sami parliament in Utsjoki in the far north of Finnish Lapland.
      Halonen said that she hoped that the Foreign Minister and others would have learned a lesson from the events.
      She would not give an opinion on whether or not the Foreign Minister had behaved in a manner unbecoming a government minister. The President said that it is a matter for Parliament to decide.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Johanna Tukiainen: Nothing improper in Kanerva´s SMS messages (28.3.2008)
  Foreign Minister Kanerva to Slovenia; controversial SMS messages may be published next week (27.3.2008)
  National Coalition Party MP calls on Kanerva to resign (18.3.2008)
  Kanerva apologises over SMS uproar (14.3.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat