Niinistö proposes linkage between Baltic and Mediterranean

Presidential Forum held in Helsinki

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Finland should link the Baltic Sea with the Mediterranean, suggested Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö at the fifth Presidential Forum in Helsinki.
     The topic of the discussion, convened by President Tarja Halonen at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, was the present state and future of the Baltic Sea. Participants expressed considerable concern about the environmental hazards facing the land-locked sea.
     Under Niinistö's proposal, Finland would offer backing to France's calls for extensive support for the Mediterranean region in return for a promise of significant EU help in improving the state of the Baltic.
     "Let's switch over to the table of the moneychangers", Niinistö proposed as an alternative to Finland's arch-Lutheran tendency of humility in the promotion of the country's own interests.
     
France will be the next holder of the EU Presidency. President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to turn the EU member states with shoreline on the Mediterranean Sea, and the other Mediterranean countries, into a group that would have its own models for financing.
     Niinistö noted that no matter what Finland does, France will push its Mediterranean project through. France has arranged a very strong position for itself in the EU, and is good at promoting its interests, he said.
     In his view, Finland and the other Nordic Countries should seek to establish closer ties with France in other respects as well.
     
Neste Oil CEO Risto Rinne proposed that officers on ships sailing in the Baltic Sea should be required to hold a special Baltic Sea sailing licence.
     Rinne feels that such a system would be needed because as a northern inland sea, the Baltic has very special conditions, owing to its narrow channels, and winter ice.
     Rinne feels that the need for a special licence to navigate these waters is increased by the surge in oil transport in the vulnerable body of water.
     "Cultural diversity is certainly a richness in the world, but not on the bridge of a ship", Rinne said, pointing to difficulties in communication, and the resulting security hazards.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  New obstacles emerge to Baltic Sea protection (3.8.2007)
  VTT reports on emissions from ships in Baltic (13.3.2007)
  Cities of Helsinki and Turku taking serious action to improve state of Baltic Sea (12.9.2007)

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