Parliamentary Defence Committee irons out differences on land mines

print this

The Defence Committee of the Finnish Parliament is reportedly reaching agreement on the plan to replace infantry land mines with other weapons systems by 2016. The committee is preparing its response to the government's recent report on security and defence policy.
      Giving up land mines was opposed by two members of the committee, Centre Party MPs Lauri Oinonen and Seppo Lahtela. To solve the disagreement, the committee agreed on a wording according to which the replacement of the mines with new weapons should improve Finnish security.
      To satisfy Oinonen, the committee is working on a separate statement urging that the weapons that are to replace the mines should be developed in Finland, and noting that an appropriate location for the work would be the military engineer armoury in Keuruu, which is Oinonen's home municipality.
      Three committee members representing the opposition National Coalition Party, Olli Nepponen, Kalevi Lamminen, and Jere Lahti plan to support the government's proposed timetable for giving up the mines, even though the party's chairman Jyrki Katainen would prefer to postpone the move until 2020.
      Another National Coalition Party member on the committee, Eero Akaan-Penttilä, supports Katainen's view on the matter.
     
Differences on another bone of contention, that of the mandate needed for the deployment of EU combat forces, were also narrowing on Monday.
      The committee was preparing a statement according to which the question of whether or not Finnish EU forces would require a mandate from the United Nations for deployment would be resolved when a new law on peacekeeping is passed.
      Meanwhile, the committee is giving its support for the idea that in exceptional circumstances an EU mandate would be sufficient.
     
Another issue confronting the committee is the proposed closure of a number of military garrisons.
      There have been recent calls to close as many as four garrisons in different parts of Finland. The Defence Committee asking for a thorough assessment of the situation, and proposes that no more than two garrisons should be shut down.
      It remains to be seen if the committee wants to take part in the decision-making process.
      The full Parliament will debate the government's report on security and defence policy, and the Defence Committee's response to it, on Monday next week.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Support in Defence Committee for EU mandate for deployment of forces (13.12.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat