Halonen says criticism from business community may have inspired her bid for second term

Risto E.J. Penttilä

Tarja Halonen

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President Tarja Halonen admits that criticism from the business community sparked a sense of defiance in her, and may have helped her decide to seek a second term in office.
      Last year Risto E.J. Penttilä, head of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA, wrote in an article appearing in Helsingin Sanomat, urging Halonen to either relinquish the President's powers in foreign policy, or to not seek a second term.
      "It did have an influence", Halonen said in a television interview programme on Saturday morning, but she suggested that the effect was different from what Penttilä might have had in mind. She added that her relations with the Finnish business community are good.
      As for the other big hot-button topic of the past week, President Halonen said that she does not believe that the criticism expressed by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) toward the European Parliament would cause any rifts between Finland and the Parliament during Finland's turn at the EU Presidency in the second half of next year.
      "I don't really think that Finland's significance is so great that it [Tuomioja's statement] would shake the conservative group or the Parliament", Halonen said.
     
In a recent Finnish newspaper interview, Tuomioja sparked anger among conservative MEPs by saying that the European Parliament would be more responsible if its members were selected from the national parliaments as before.
      President Halonen also said that joining NATO is still not a current issue for Finland. She went on to say that she did not think that the interpretation given to the result of a recent opinion poll was completely in line with Western democracy. The poll, commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, indicated that a majority of Finns are opposed to Finnish membership in NATO, but would accept membership if a political decision prompted by the President or the Prime Minister were made in favour of such a move. The implication was that if only a few political leaders would change their mind, the country would follow.
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said on Friday that NATO membership should be decided by a referendum. Halonen feels that it is up to Parliament to decide on a referendum, but she also noted that the view of the Prime Minister carries much weight in the matter. As President, Halonen would not put up a fight on the referendum issue.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  PM Vanhanen appeases MEPs provoked by Minister Tuomioja's comments (21.10.2005)
  Halonen criticised as global do-gooder; PM Vanhanen comes to President's defence (26.4.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat