Finnish EU Presidency: foreign ministers meet in Lappeenranta
City tidies up for major event
An unofficial meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union countries begins at the Fortress of Lappeenranta in the southeast of Finland on Friday.
Topics on the agenda include the situation in the Middle East, the nuclear energy dispute with Iran, energy policy, and EU relations with Russia.
On the opening day discussions will focus almost exclusively on the peacekeeping effort in Lebanon. On Saturday the ministers will discuss a number of other matters, including the new trade deal between the EU and Russia, on which negotiations are to begin in the coming months.
Chairing the meeting will be Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. In addition to the foreign ministers of the present EU countries, the meeting will be attended by ministers of the future EU states Bulgaria and Romania, and from applicant countries. EU foreign affairs envoy Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Commissioner for External Affairs will also be present.
The meeting will be guarded by 500 police officers, access to the fortress area will be restricted to those with special permission.
The City of Lappeenranta has been eager to be the focus of so much attention; special efforts were made to show the city's best face. A number of condemned buildings that had been waiting for the bulldozer for a fairly long time disappeared almost miraculously shortly before the meeting, and stonemasons have been busy all summer repairing the cobblestones in the city's harbour area.
City officials nevertheless dispute claims that the city is being turned into a Potemkin village: the cleanup and repairs would have happened in any case. "Timetables were just arranged so that the work would be ready now", said one top city official to Helsingin Sanomat.
Foreign Minister Tuomioja chose Lappeenranta as the venue of the meeting. The city is close to the Russian border, which emphasises Finland's geographical position as an EU country bordering Russia.
Spouses of the foreign ministers, as well as international journalists are to be given a tour of the operations of the nearby border station.
The building in which the meeting will be held serves as an art museum, where there is currently an exhibition by the Russian artist Ilya Repin, who once lived in Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 1.9.2006 - TODAY |
 Finnish EU Presidency: foreign ministers meet in Lappeenranta |
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