Airstrip One

Finnish foreign policy - 23rd December 2002, 23.29

Now, people may say that this has nothing to do with a weblog concentrating on British foreign policy. Agreed, but it appears that Finland may not have a foreign policy any longer. Helsingen Sanomat is publishing a series of articles on Finnish foreign policy in light of the Convention and adopts the 'small country' line of supporting the Commission.

After examining the current stance of Finland towards non-alignment, credible defence and good relationships with its neighbours, the article draws out a few startling facts.

Finland does not have the resources to defend herself.

But on the other hand: "It is not possible in Finland or in Sweden, for that matter, to speak about independent defence, as we are so dependent on international cooperation in materiel", said Defence Chief Juhani Kaskeala in late October.

Finnish ministers are no longer able to articulate Finnish national interests unless the European Union has not agreed a common policy in this area.

Bringing the policy lines of the EU and Finland together has involved more problems in domestic policy than in foreign policy.
A fresh example of this was the statement made by President Tarja Halonen during her visit to China. According to Halonen, China has developed in human rights questions, even though some human rights organisations feel that the country continues to trample the rights of its citizens as much as it likes.
As the president of a member state of the EU, Halonen gave a statement on Chinese human rights that followed the EU's official policy. She actually could not have done anything else, unless Finland would have been able to change the common statements of the EU countries before the trip.
Halonen's remarks did not cause any foreign policy problems for Finland, but they did give domestic critics a good reason to bash Finland's line on EU issues. The statement raised questions about Finnish independence - and the credibility of Halonen, who has put a special emphasis on human rights questions.
In the future it is likely that there will be more of these kinds of situations - if and when the EU becomes more active in foreign and security policy. Then statements may pop out of the mouths of the foreign policy leaders that Finns might not like to hear. In addition to questions related to Russia, these kinds of statements might include strange pronouncements on foreign military operations of the great powers.

What's left?