Presidential candidate Sauli Niinistö wants more decisiveness in EU policy

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Sauli Niinistö, one of the vice chairmen of the European Investment Bank, was officially named the presidential candidate of the opposition National Coalition Party on Saturday.
      Accepting his nomination, Niinistö severely criticised the actions of Finland's current leaders.
      He said that there has not been sufficient national debate on factors for future success in Finland, and that debate over greater internationalism is lagging behind. In his view, the promotion of Finnish interests requires more decisiveness.
      In Niinistö's opinion, Finland has actually regressed in its position in EU decision-making.
      "The more passive we are in that decision-making, the less we will be heard", he emphasised.
     
To Niinistö's way of thinking, Finland's position was stronger when Martti Ahtisaari was President and when Paavo Lipponen was Prime Minister.
      "I have been waiting for President Tarja Halonen to say that she also wants to save the constitutional treaty of the European Union - or whatever there is that can be salvaged."
      Niinistö feels that the number of unemployed in Finland is still "intolerably high". "The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister do not have the right to pass on responsibility in matters that are an impediment to the creation of work", he said.
     
The 500 delegates gathered at Helsinki's Marina Congress Centre for the extraordinary party congress of the National Coalition Party, which officially nominated Niinistö, punctuated Niinistö's speech with intermittent enthusiastic applause.
      Party Chairman Jyrki Katainen praised Niinistö's "decisive, businesslike, and unyielding leadership", which, he said, has made an impression on many European leaders.
      Niinistö made many contacts among leaders of European conservative and centre-right parties when he served as chairman of the European Democratic Union.
      In Katainen's view, the possibility to call the Austrian Chancellor, or the President of the European Commission, or the future Chancellor of Germany gives a country like Finland an importance in European politics that is greater than its size.
     
The only real surprise in Niinistö's own speech was how warmly he praised the "brave men and women" who took on great personal responsibility ten years ago in explaining and defending that which was necessary.
      Niinistö said that Prime Minister Esko Aho (Centre) attained the status of statesman when he led Finland into the EU. He saw Aho's successor Paavo Lipponen (SDP) as "the soul of Finland's best European policy, and the godfather of the euro". Niinistö sees Suvi-Anne Siimes, the chairwoman of the Left Alliance, as "one of the most courageous and tenacious politicians of postwar Finland".
      "The treatment that they received even among their own people was unreasonable at times", Niinistö said.
      From his own party, Niinistö singled out former Minister of Finance Iiro Viinanen for special praise. According to Niinistö, without Viinanen's tenacity, Finland would have significantly higher unemployment than it has now.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sauli Niinistö lives an austere and quiet life in Luxembourg (8.10.2005)

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