Paavo Lipponen heads visit of Nordic and Baltic Speakers of Parliament to Washington
Lipponen sees Finnish-US relations as good
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Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen (SDP) met with key political leaders in Washington in the early part of this week during a visit to the United States by a delegation of eight Parliamentary speakers of the Nordic Countries and Baltic States.
Lipponen was the head of the delegation, whose main purpose was to enhance relations between the United States and Northern Europe.
On Wednesday evening before his return to Finland, Lipponen said that the effort was a success. The group met with key representatives of three key bodies in US foreign policy - the Congress, the State Department, and the White House. Lipponen characterised the talks that they held as excellent.
The visit was Lipponen’s first trip to Washington since December 2002 when, as Prime Minister, he held talks with President George W. Bush. The leaking of information from Finnish Foreign Ministry documents on the meeting to the then opposition leader Anneli Jäätteenmäki (Centre) led to a major political scandal.
During the previous visit, he was driven around in a black limousine with a police escort. Now the delegation had a small bus. The goal of the visit was the same then as it is now: promoting transatlantic dialogue.
The importance of dialogue was also a key topic of a press conference held on Wednesday by Lipponen and his colleagues.
Lipponen said that relations between the Nordic and Baltic countries and the United States are excellent. In his view, sufficient efforts have been made on their behalf, and respect is mutual.
He also rejected the suggestion that he had expressed concern over relations between Finland and the United States in his recent statements. He noted that there has been active interaction between the governments, and that Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) had recently visited Washington.
He also said that he agrees with the warning of former Prime Minister Esko Aho against "fundamentalist anti-Americanism".
The issue of anti-Americanism in Europe came up during a meeting between the group and the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert. In their discussions, the speaker of the Danish Parliament, Svend Auken, had emphasised that criticism of US policy is not the same as anti-Americanism.
Lipponen felt that it was important to look beyond the Iraq crisis. He also said that the interests of Iraq and its people are the common interests of everyone.
Lipponen expressed agreement with those who have said that the policies of the Bush administration had taken on more multinational elements. He said that talk of a split between a "New Europe", which takes a positive view of Washington’s international goals, and an "Old Europe" which is critical toward US efforts is "completely a thing of the past".
The idea for a trip to Washington by the Speakers of Parliament of the eight northern countries first came up in August last year at a meeting held in Lithuania, where Lipponen gave a speech on transatlantic cooperation.
Originally the idea was that Lipponen would serve as a messenger for the group, but then all of the others wanted to join him.
Lipponen felt that the model might work in other connections as well.
"We have no concrete plans, but in principle, this concept could be applied to relations with Russia, for instance."
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.6.2004 - TODAY |
 Paavo Lipponen heads visit of Nordic and Baltic Speakers of Parliament to Washington |
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