President Halonen praises relations between EU and USA

Tarja Halonen

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The European Union and the United States can discuss even difficult matters and seek solutions to their problems regardless of potential differences of opinion, said Finland's President Tarja Halonen, speaking at the anniversary celebrations of the American Chamber of Commerce in Finland on Thursday.
      "Democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law, and the market economy form the basis of our respective societies on both sides of the ocean", noted Halonen.
     
She commented further that "despite shared values and goals, it is not always easy to work together."
      "There have always been sensitive points in transatlantic cooperation, most recently differences of opinion between the EU and the United States regarding the response to international security threats", the President continued.
      She feels that many problems between the EU and the United States have to do with new security rules related to counter-terrorism.
     
President Halonen was also pleased to mention that an agreement on the disclosure of passenger data was signed during Finland's term as the EU Presidency, thus making transatlantic air travel easier.
     
Halonen stressed particularly that it is important that cooperation on issues related to climate change is progressing.
     
As for the relations between Finland and the United States, President Halonen mentioned that the USA remains Finland's most important trade and investment partner outside Europe, and that trade between the two countries has recently begun to grow again.
      Actually, Finland's Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Finance recently met their US counterparts in Washington DC, and "both parties seem genuinely interested in the potential of economic cooperation", Halonen concluded.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns increasingly critical of EU, NATO, USA, and immigration (9.1.2007)
  Finland - important to Russia, not to USA (28.11.2006)

Links:
  Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the Anniversary Celebrations of the American Chamber of Commerce in Finland, 22 March 2007

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