Olli Rehn focuses on economic affairs in preparation for EU Commission portfolio shuffle

Social Democrats’ lobbying for Lipponen irks Enlargement Commissioner Rehn

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By Annamari Sipilä in Brussels
     
      Finland’s Olli Rehn (Centre Party) has only two weeks left as the EU Enlargement Commissioner. The European Commission’s five-year term draws to a close at the end of the month.
      But Rehn’s EU-based employment is set to continue. He is the Finnish government’s official candidate for José Manuel Barroso’s new team.
     
Other than that, the situation is wide open.
      Which portfolios are up for grabs in the new commission?
      Who gets what?
      Will the Lisbon Treaty be formally ratified - in other words will the posts be created of a "President of the European Union" (more correctly, at least at first a "President of the European Council") and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs?
      Lord only knows.
     
The appointment wars have been running hot for a while now.
      All 27 EU member-states are gunning after the heaviest portfolio possible.
      Finland hopes that Rehn would become the High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Also the Economic and Financial Affairs portfolio would be a welcome prize.
      What kind of an impact do such speculations have on their target?
      “I do not really pay attention to them. I concentrate on doing my job, instead of worrying about things that are beyond my control”, says Rehn.
      Calmness and matter-of-factness are Rehn’s trademarks. Still, the Commissioner is seemingly annoyed by the Finnish debate over the appointments.
     
Finland’s Social Democrats are ecstatic at the fact that the names of the former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (Soc. Dem.) and the former President of the Republic and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Martti Ahtisaari have been thrown into the ring in connection with the possible appointment of the "EU President", a race in which the former British PM Tony Blair seems to be the front-runner, albeit with nearly as many detractors as supporters.
      The National Coalition Party’s Sauli Niinistö and Alexander Stubb also want to keep several Finnish names in the frame.
      Eero Heinäluoma of the opposition Social Democrats demanded on Wednesday of last week that Finland concentrate its efforts on lobbying for Lipponen.
      Heinäluoma regarded the chances of Centre Party member Rehn’s landing the big fish of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs as rather flimsy.
      On Friday it was SDP MP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri’s turn to insist on support for Lipponen.
      “I will not start guessing the speakers' internal or power politics motives. Only I and Heinäluoma know the extent of the support he has provided to my EU work since July 2004”, Rehn says, paraphrasing what former President Mauno Koivisto used to say about his Social Democrat colleague Kalevi Sorsa.
      Rehn seems to be asking for a bit more loyalty.
      “I remember well, when Paavo Lipponen was running for the post of the Commission President back in 2004. At that time Matti Vanhanen’s (Centre Party) government supported Lipponen until the bitter end, and refused to speculate with other nominations.”
     
In the summer five years ago, Rehn was in the middle of firing up the sauna at his cottage, when Barroso called him and offered the post as the Enlargement Commissioner.
      Back then Finland - along with nearly all the other member-states - had been eagerly eyeing up the Economic and Financial Affairs portfolio.
      This resulted in a moment of hesitation in Finland. People did not know if they should celebrate or fret over the enlargement portfolio.
      Finally it was decided that Finland had received a “middleweight” portfolio. That estimate proved correct.
     
The Enlargement Commissioner’s work is very much a balancing act.
      Paving the way for the Western Balkans and Turkey to join the Union has divided the member states.
      At times Rehn has been called a toady of Turkey and at other times a discriminator against the Bosnian Muslims.
      “The foreign ministers of member states contact me regularly. Calls from the prime ministerial level, on the other hand, usually come through upstairs, in other words via Barroso.”
     
On the enlargement front, times are noticeably more peaceful than, say, two or five years ago.
      Rehn has therefore sought to take part in the handling of the economic crisis as well, when the Commissioners have decided together on general policies.
      “During the last year I have had my hands full with matters related to the Balkans, but my thoughts have been in the economy.”
      This is preparation work for all possible scenarios. It is good to profile oneself also on the economic front, in case the hoped-for Foreign Affairs portfolio lands elsewhere.
     
Rehn is adamant about one thing: he is not running for the chairmanship of the Centre Party back in Finland.
      “I have tried it twice before, back in 1990 and 2002. I have not thought about doing it for a third time”, Rehn says and continues:
      “The government recently received a vote of confidence, and even Matti Vanhanen seems to have escaped undamaged from the recent election funding stir.”
     
Rehn will nevertheless return to Finland “one day”, because of friends and relatives.
      He has spent much of the last fifteen years in Brussels, first as a MEP from 1995 to 1999, and thereafter as a senior aide to Erkki Liikanen, who was the Commissioner for Enterprise and Information in Romano Prodi's Commission.
      Rehn took over Liikanen's job briefly in 2004 after Liikanen left for the Bank of Finland, and he was then appointed by Barroso to his present position.
      Now 47, Rehn was the youngest member of the Commission when he took on the enlargement job in 2004.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.10.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  No comment from Swedes on Rehn chances as EU foreign affairs commissioner (11.2.2009)
  MEP Ville Itälä wants national front to be formed to support Olli Rehn (12.1.2009)
  Olli Rehn named as Finland´s EU Commissioner candidate (1.10.2009)

Links:
  Olli Rehn - Enlargement Commissioner, 2004-2009
  Olli Rehn (Wikipedia)

ANNAMARI SIPILÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
annamari.sipila@hs.fi