Spokesman Kemppinen to head EU Commission Representation in Finland

Reijo Kemppinen

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Reijo Kemppinen, the top spokesperson of the European Commission, was named the new head of the Commission’s Representation in Finland for the coming five years.
      The most conspicuous Finn in Brussels will relocate to Helsinki in early November.
      Kemppinen said that he does not plan to implement any massive changes in his new post, noting that the present employees at the Commission’s Representation have done good work.
      The Commission’s future President, José Manuel Barroso, has wondered if the Commission’s representations do enough to create a more positive image of the EU.
      "I plan to use the media to establish as active a dialogue with the people as possible, and to explain matters from the point of view of the Commission", Kemppinen explains.
     
The new Commission hopes to upgrade its information activities with the help of its Swedish Commissioner for Information, Margot Wallström.
      Kemppinen plans to take part in this project in Brussels as well, so he will be shuttling between the Finnish and Belgian capitals rather frequently.
     
Reijo Kemppinen has worked as the main spokesman of the Commission since the spring of 2003. Before that he served as the Commission’s deputy head spokesman and as the press officer of the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.
      Before starting on his civil servant’s career in 1992, Kemppinen worked as a journalist, and before that he was a police officer in Orimattila.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Reijo Kemppinen, on the record (16.2.2003)

Links:
  European Commission Representation in Finland

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