Raimo Väyrynen, the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs announced on Wednesday that he will retire from the beginning of 2010.
Antti Tanskanen, the Chairman of the Board of the institute, said that there had not been any discussion of such a move with Väyrynen, but that he is not very surprised at the announcement.
“Many people - me for instance - have retired at a younger age”, Tanskanen says.
Väyrynen turns 62 two weeks from now. He was named Director of the institute in the spring of 2007, which means that his five-year term will be cut short.
In the spring of 2008 there were reports of problems in the working atmosphere at the institute. At that time the board gave Väyrynen an oral reprimand and demanded a report on measures to be taken to fix the problem.
In the autumn Tanskanen said that he believed that life at the institute had gradually returned to normal.
Tanskanen says that no pressure was put on Väyrynen. “Certainly not to the extent that the board would have been actively calling on Väyrynen to make this decision. The whole board had felt for months that things were going better.”
Väyrynen said in a statement issued on Wednesday that he wants to focus more on research.
He also says that the term of the current board of the institute ends at the end of the year, and that planning for the new programme structure begins from the beginning of next year. Therefore, the change of directors would occur at an appropriate time.
Tanskanen says that the search for a new director will start immediately.
