Off the record...

Reijo Kemppinen, the chief spokesman of the EU Commission, recalls how nice it was to sit at the Kremlin behind the broad back of Europe. At the beginning of November, he will return to Finland to help thaw apathy towards the Union.

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By Petteri Tuohinen in Brussels
     
      It is natural to meet with Reijo Kemppinen next to the Berlaymont building, in the EU district of Brussels.
      As a reporter thirteen years ago, he participated in the last Commission press conference that was held in the building. Now, as the main spokesman of the Commission, he will head the first press conference to be held in the building after the asbestos renovations there that lasted more than ten years.
     
After that, Kemppinen will move to Helsinki. At the beginning of November, he will tackle his next challenge as the head of the EU Commission Representation in Finland.
      Or to be precise, he will not actually move, as his family will remain here in Brussels. On Monday mornings, he will leave from the Brussels airport for Finland, and he will return to his family on the Friday afternoon flight. Regular life in the Union.
      "This is home, isn't it?" Kemppinen remarks.
     
At least when measured in terms of publicity, Kemppinen is the most conspicuous Finn in Brussels. As the chief spokesman for the Commission since early 2003, he has been responsible when hundreds of international reporters have demanded answers to all kinds of tricky questions.
      For example on Friday, the Commission's views on Italian value-added-tax, the meeting between the French Prime Minister and the Commission President, and the future of the cooperation agreement between the EU and Israel were all of interest to reporters.
      "I have worked all the time for two years, no matter where I have been on the planet, whether it was the weekend or not, always accessible to my boss and to reporters. One morning, I came to work before my secretary and absently answered the phone. I was told I was in a live broadcast of the Teheran radio."
     
You can tell Kemppinen is well known. A five-minute stroll around the EU blocks lasts double the time when acquaintances stop Kemppinen to exchange their hellos.
      "Kiitos", a Japanese reporter says in Finnish.
      A Finnish couple also walks by. They turn their heads to check. Yes, it really was Kemppinen.
     
We do not even eat our meal without interruptions. A Bulgarian journalist approaches, asking for a comment.
      "This would be an extremely important issue for my country", the Bulgarian explains. He would like to know what the Commission could do about a ship that has sunk in the Black Sea, leaving the Bulgarian sailors at the mercy of the waters. The incident was supposedly the fault of a Turkish submarine.
      How will Kemppinen solve this problem in the Black Sea?
      "Let's find out if we know anything about this", Kemppinen says, calling the Commission on the other side of the street.
      At the same time, he gets a call from a Professor from the University of Nyköping in Sweden, who is apparently studying the Commission's press releases.
      "What a masochist!" Kemppinen laughs.
     
As main spokesman, Kemppinen is well liked. He has attempted to make the Commission more transparent by publishing the list of telephone numbers of the Commission's staff, as well as the Commission's agenda. Kemppinen has also encouraged Commission employees to give statements using their own names.
      "The officials only give statements anonymously, which worsens our public image. When anonymous sources speak, it sounds a lot more negative than if the issue was discussed under one's own name."
      However, Kemppinen himself has not been able to shake the so-called "off the record" practice. It emerges when I ask his opinion on the current hot-button topic, the fate of Italian Commissioner candidate Rocco Buttiglione.
     
"Off the record?" Kemppinen begins.
      His answer will be left out this time. However, he does say on the record that he does not condone Buttiglione's views on homosexuality being a sin, or on the status of women as makers of children.
      "But you will not get me to say that I would disagree with the future Commission President about Buttiglione."
     
Kemppinen carries plenty of memories from the private dining cabinets of the Commission, and from outside of them. And even though we are talking about the EU, Kemppinen reveals that some of his experiences have been quiet personal and emotional.
      The summits between the EU and Russia have perhaps been the most impressive moments for him.
      "When you sit in the huge halls of the Kremlin, where the fate of Finland has been decided upon on so many occasions, and when Vladimir Putin is sitting opposite you, you get the feeling that for once a Finn is sitting behind the broad back of Europe and that the relations between Finland and Russia are managed via the EU. That we are not alone, but there are 25 of us member states. At that instant, it was a great feeling as a Finn."
     
Kemppinen also has pleasant memories from last summer, when he joined in on Commission President Romano Prodi's meeting with Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen in Finland.
      "I don't know what got into me, but after dinner I asked the Prime Minister if the sauna was hot."
      And it was. The three men went into the sauna, and Kemppinen suggested they take a swim in the cold sea water. The Prime Minister was a bit sceptical about the water temperature, but eventually plunged in since Prodi was game. It would hardly have done for a Finn to be upstaged by an Italian in this department.
      "Prodi got excited, and then he rushed into the freezing water. Our boss from Bologna swam around like a seal and wanted to go to the sauna again the next day, when he was a guest of the President."
     
Some less pleasant memories were accumulated last year during the Italian Presidency, when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi praised the actions of Putin in Chechnya.
      There was plenty of explaining to do after that. As there was the time when Prodi described the EU Stability and Growth Pact as "stupid".
      "I suggested that we not take back a single word, but go to the European Parliament and to new interviews and explain. There was severe criticism for a couple of weeks, but looking back now, the situation has changed. The Pact is now interpreted with more flexibility, and many others have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is stupid."
     
In Helsinki, Kemppinen wants to increase EU-related discussions and fight the euro-apathy of citizens. In order to achieve his goals, he plans to significantly increase the staff number at the Finnish Representation.
      "I am not a salesman for the EU. People can be critical towards the EU, that does not worry me. What I am worried about is that people feel apathy. The greatest challenges of EU institutions are breaking down the wall of apathy and increasing public knowledge about the Union."
      When Kemppinen started his job as the main spokesman of the Commission, he said in a newspaper interview that the piece of good news about the EU that he would hope for would be that the Union was asked to mediate in the Iraq crisis.
      Now his hopes are elsewhere.
      "EU competitiveness improving dramatically - surprising turnaround in Lisbon Process", former reporter Kemppinen pens his dream headline.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.10.2004


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Spokesman Kemppinen to head EU Commission Representation in Finland (14.10.2004)
  Reijo Kemppinen, on the record (16.2.2003)

PETTERI TUOHINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
petteri.tuohinen@hs.fi