Finland needs more civil servants in Brussels
COLUMN
Sixten Korkman
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Jacob Söderman
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Sirkka Hämäläinen
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Gustav Hägglund
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Johnny Åkerholm
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Sauli Niinistö
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Allan Rosas
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By Unto Hämäläinen
Dr. Sixten Korkman will end his long tenure in Brussels in the coming weeks, when he returns to Finland to lead the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA).
Korkman spent ten years working as Director-General of Ecofin, the economic section of the Council of Ministers of the European Union. His period in the office saw, among other things, the signing of the EU’s Growth and Stability Pact, a decision on setting up the euro zone, and the transition to using the euro in 12 member states from the beginning of 2002.
Sixten Korkman was the first Finnish civil servant to get a high position in the EU apparatus after Finland became a member.
The next Finn to rise to a conspicuous position was Jacob Söderman, who was chosen by the European Parliament as the first European Ombudsman. It can be said that Söderman created the EU’s Ombudsman system. He enjoyed such great confidence that Parliament chose him for a second term up to 2003, when he retired.
Retirement did not take Söderman out of the public eye. He has many idiosyncratic opinions which are enjoyable to read. Among other things, Söderman works as the chairman of the Council for Mass Media in Finland.
The series of appointments continued in 1998 when Sirkka Hämäläinen, Governor of the Bank of Finland, was named to the Board of the European Central Bank. Finland was the only Nordic country to join the euro, and Hämäläinen’s appointment was also helped by her gender. In the masculine world of banking, a woman as a director of a central bank is a rarity.
Hämäläinen’s five-year-term at the ECB concluded a couple of years ago, and in her retirement, she has been appointed to the boards of Kone, and SanomaWSOY.
Good luck was involved when the EU’s new Military Committee got its first chairman in the winter of 2001. In a close vote, General Gustav Hägglund was chosen. It was under his leadership that the EU’s first crisis management forces were set up.
Hägglund retired a year ago, moved back to Finland, and he has also been an active participant in public debate.
Another influential period was that of Johnny Åkerholm in the EU. Åkerholm was long the deputy Chairman of the Economic and Finance Committee, and served as its Chairman , until he moved on to take the post of Secretary-General of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London.
Last year Åkerholm returned to Helsinki, where he took the post of CEO of the Nordic Investment Bank. The NIB supports infrastructure projects in the Nordic Countries and nearby areas. It has helped finance the sewage treatment plant of St. Petersburg, among other projects.
The posts left vacant by the abovementioned officials have not been filled by other Finns. This is not a sign of their failure, nor is it surprising in other respects, because there is an effort in the EU to try to rotate posts among different nationalities.
The problem is that for a couple of years Finns have not been chosen to other high positions. The appointment of Sauli Niinistö as Vice President of the European Investment Bank and that of Alan Rosas as a judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities are the most recent significant appointments.
Both jurists seem to be enjoying themselves in Luxembourg, although Niinistö would have to return home before the end of his term if he were elected President of Finland. Niinistö would not be replaced by a Finn, because his post rotates among member states.
It is best not to exaggerate the national significance of EU civil servants’ posts. The European Union is - at least in principle - a democratic community where the most important decisions are made at summits, Councils of Ministers meetings, and in the European Parliament. It is there where the views of countries and peoples come out.
Still, the civil service prepares decisions and oversees their implementation. The only options that are brought to the tables of decision-makers are those that have gone through the preparation mill.
Finland should have a strong representation in all important preparatory bodies, because each member state also monitors its own national interest in the EU.
Competition for the posts has become more intense since the enlargement of the EU. In the competition Finland can fall between the new member states and the old countries that founded the EEC. The old member states have been nurturing their own civil servants within the EU machinery for years. Ten new member states want to get their candidates into important vacancies soon.
A generation of young Finnish civil servants is growing up, but they cannot compete for the top posts, because it takes time to attain the right level.
It is difficult to get into a civil servant’s career from the outside. One good way would be to get a posting as an aide to a Commissioner. Finns have not been particularly successful in that. Last autumn, 25 Commissioners chose more than 200 aides. Only Olli Rehn took Finns into his cabinet.
Finland nevertheless has a satisfactory position in the leading civil servants’ posts of the Commission: one director-general, one deputy director-general, and four directors.
In addition to these, there is a tough arm wrestle going on over the post of Director-General of the Border Management Agency. Finland is proposing Colonel Ilkka Laitinen for the post.
The choice will be made in late May. Laitinen is among the top contenders, and his possibilities are considered fairly good. The appointment will be presented by an Italian Commissioner, Franco Frattini, who hopes to promote his own candidate, who just happens to be Italian.
In the game of posts in the European Commission, Finland has nevertheless been somewhat more successful than Denmark or Sweden. On the other hand, there are no Finns in important civil servants’ posts in the Council of Ministers or the European Parliament.
A few weeks ago there was an attempt to get a Finn into a top position at the European Parliament. This was not successful; Finnish MEPs have not been very good at lobbying for their national interest.
All in all it would seem that after a brilliant start, Finland would be falling into its usual position of a small member state in the distribution of official power in the European Union.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 21.5.2005
UNTO HÄMÄLÄINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
unto.hamalainen@hs.fi
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| 24.5.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Finland needs more civil servants in Brussels |
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