Matti Vanhanen logs 119 days of foreign travel as Prime Minister

print this

By Minttu Mikkonen
     
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen raises the microphone to a higher position after the previous speaker has finished. He begins his speech: "Dear listeners!"
      It is just after two in the afternoon on Monday, the 3rd of October, and Vanhanen is giving his second seminar speech of the day. The décor of a first-class hotel in Helsinki is as grey as the Prime Minister's public image, but the atmosphere is relaxed.
      Men clad in dark suits, and the few women that are present, all laugh at the Prime Minister's quips, and Vanhanen appears to be enjoying himself among the trade unionists, newspaper editors, and other familiar influential people.
      In the back row the Prime Minister's political special adviser Timo Laaninen listens to the speech, which he had finished writing for Vanhanen just under an hour earlier. Vanhanen can go through between 60 and 70 pages of written speeches in a single week, so the ordeal of the Prime Minister and his speech writers is only beginning.
     
Seminars are pleasant, because they generally make it possible to speak rather freely, the Prime Minister says later in the back seat of his official car.
      However, he has to be a bit careful, because there may be journalists lurking in the audience who might interpret some unfinished matter as a statement by the government.
      The car moves slowly in the rush-hour traffic in the centre of the city toward the Prime Minister's official residence at Kesäranta. Vanhanen takes a bite of a piece of blueberry pie, which he had grabbed from the coffee table before rushing off. He did not have enough time to stay and talk.
      There is usually enough time in the car to read background papers from the folder that his aides compile for him each day. On the back seat a pile of old folders are waiting, which he plans to get back to someday.
      In addition to the seminars, the daytime programme includes a meeting with members of the European Commission, a background briefing with officials of the Foreign Ministry linked with his visit to Ukraine, and in the evening, a reception in Kesäranta.
      Late in the evening the Prime Minister comments on the EU membership talks to the media.
     
On the previous day the future presidential candidate of the Centre Party was at the Baltic Herring Festival giving out autographs. The tone of feedback from the public has changed since he agreed to run for President.
      "Now people are patting me on the back and encouraging me in the presidential election. As Prime Minister I faced criticism, and was asked about topical matters."
      Vanhanen knows that in Parliament, being a Presidential candidate does not make things any easier . On the contrary - he says that Parliamentarians of other parties will do all they can to put him in a negative light.
      The slow start of the campaign has raised the question of whether or not Vanhanen actually wants to be President.
     
The campaign is easily forgotten during travel abroad.
      On Wednesday, Vanhanen sips tea in Kiev under the chandeliers of the official state guest house of Ukraine. He briefs Finnish journalists on his meeting with the Ukrainian Speaker of Parliament.
      Vanhanen says that he was told there is talk in Ukraine that government ministers should not take part in the Parliamentary elections in March, because it is thought that it would be disruptive to government work.
      So was there any talk in that connection about the Finnish Prime Minister's participation in the presidential elections in January?
      "Oh, perhaps I could have mentioned that", Vanhanen says.
     
On the flight back to Helsinki Vanhanen is in a good mood, even though the day has been a long one, and the line of black cars has sped from one meeting to another on a tight schedule. He asks the flight attendant for more Coca-Cola.
      Discussions with Prime Minister Yuri Yehanurov and President Viktor Yushtshenko had proceeded well, and in the evening, Vanhanen also met former Prime Minister Julija Tymoshenko. He also had the opportunity to promote Finnish business.
      The private plane took off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport at 7:30 in the morning, and Vanhanen does not get back until after 11:00 at night. It is quite a long day's travelling, considering that Vanhanen did not want to be the Minister for Foreign Trade in the government of Anneli Jäätteenmäki, because he would have to travel so much.
      Vanhanen downplays the issue. "A Prime Minister's trips are short - usually just one day."
      But wouldn't a President's trips be even longer?
      "That is different. The President's pace is more calm, and travel is only occasional."
      Does this mean that the President has a boring job?
      "Certainly not."
     
On Friday Vanhanen is in St. Petersburg from morning to evening, promoting Finnish business, and is not able to attend a meeting of the government's EU Ministerial Committee. This has happened only a couple of times before.
      At about the time that the Finnish Prime Minister is cutting a ribbon at the opening of a freight container terminal belonging to a Finnish company, Russian President Vladimir Putin is celebrating his birthday in another part of St. Petersburg, along with guests that include the leaders of the CIS countries, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
      The Prime Minister's working week does not end when his government car takes him from the business flight terminal at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport towards his home in Nurmijärvi at 7:00 PM. On Saturday, Vanhanen is to attend a football tournament of influential municipal figures of Central Uusimaa - as a spectator.
      "If a man my age were to go and play with the amount of practice I have had, I would almost certainly get over-excited and injure myself", Vanhanen says.
      "It is best not to do everything that one wants, as long as one is Prime Minister."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.10.2005


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sauli Niinistö lives an austere and quiet life in Luxembourg (8.10.2005)

MINTTU MIKKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
minttu.mikkonen@hs.fi