President and Prime Minister still at odds over EU summit issue

EU President Van Rompuy pays brief visit to Helsinki

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Tuesday’s announcement by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) on new practices for summits of the European Union came as a surprise to President Tarja Halonen.
      On Wednesday, President Halonen said that she had discussed the matter with Vanhanen shortly before he made his announcement about the new procedure.
      “I was under the impression that we had agreed that the Lisbon Treaty had not changed the situation from Finland’s point of view in the sense that we would need to make new decisions with respect to a one-seat situation”, Halonen said on Wednesday at her press conference at the President’s residence in Mäntyniemi.
     
President Halonen said that she got the impression from media reports that new policy lines had been implemented.
      Vanhanen took the view on Tuesday that when Finland has only one seat at the meeting table, Finland will be represented by the Prime Minister.
      Vanhanen emphasised that EU matters - including the EU’s foreign and security policy - are part of the jurisdiction of the Finnish government. The government plans to submit a statement on the matter to Parliament on Thursday.
     
In the view of President Halonen, the President needs to have the possibility to participate in EU meetings in certain situations. “If foreign and security policy come up, then I need to be there as President.”
      “If the European Union has nothing against having two representatives, then is there any particular reason why we should deviate from this?” Halonen asked.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen said on Wednesday that there are no meetings in sight in which the Finnish President could participate.
      In addition, Vanhanen said that the new EU President plans to invite only one person from each EU country to participate in EU summits.
      Vanhanen met the newly elected EU President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday during a brief visit to Helsinki.
     
Meanwhile, Halonen emphasised that she has not sought decision-making power on matters such as EU finances or agricultural policy, or any other matters that are clearly part of the EU’s new internal policy.
     Her own assessment was that she would not be travelling to EU summits “at the same pace” as she has been doing previously.
      She sees the issue as one of carrying out the constitutional tasks of the Finnish President. The fact that there are no great differences now in foreign and security policy does not mean that such differences will not arise sometime in the future.
     
“I can easily imagine that there will be situations in the future in which there are differences of opinion, and it is my impression that the Finnish constitution has stated quite clearly that the President has authority in foreign and security policy, and if someone wants to trim it back, this has to happen through the proper legal procedure.”
     The President added that altering Presidential powers cannot be simply announced. If there are moves to do so, then the right place for it is the committee headed by Christoffer Taxell, which is working on constitutional reform.
     “If changes are desired, it naturally requires a rather large majority in Parliament, and then the matter will apply to the next president. That is why I am slightly confused by this.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Vanhanen: Prime Minister to represent Finland at EU summits (2.12.2009)
  PM and President still at odds over representation at EU summits (30.11.20009)
  President and PM seek common stance on representation at EU summits (27.11.2009)

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