Translation

NEW YEAR'S SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

MARTTI AHTISAARI ON 1.1.1997

Citizens,

"We must love our fatherland in such a way that we respect every citizen's share in it." Those words by F.E. Sillanpää impose an obligation on us as we begin this jubilee year of our independence as a nation. Every Finn is the builder of his or her fatherland, independence is every Finn's affair.

As a consequence of the economic difficulties of recent years, many people have had their faith in the opportunities that their own country offers them put to the test. Unemployment remains a difficult problem. Although the trend has turned in a positive direction, we cannot be satisfied with the rate at which the number of people out of work is declining.

Regional disparities in unemployment have even become starker. Nearly everyone in Åland has a job, whilst in the north as many as one in three can be unemployed.

Unemployment is a global problem. In particular, it afflicts all highly industrialised countries. National economies must adjust to a demanding transition. During the deep recession of 1990-94 we lost nearly half a million jobs in Finland. The situation was particularly exacerbated by the collapse of our trade with the Soviet Union in 1990-91, in conjunction with which a substantial part of those jobs vanished.

Only about one in six of the lost jobs has been regained. Indicative of the structural transformation that the economy has undergone is the fact that although our trade with Russia is now approaching its former level, this has not brought back jobs. Manual work has been replaced by machines.

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There are many that have done well in our period of transition, but also a lot whose fate is permanent uncertainty, the loss of their jobs, marginalisation. Indeed, our society is threatening to become divided into the successful, the quite large group living in uncertainty, and those who fall by the wayside.

The long-term unemployed, those who have been out of work for over a year, now total nearly 130,000. Their position is especially awkward. Many of them have toiled in working life for a long time. They have participated in creating the foundation on which the prosperity of Finnish society rests. Now the bottom is falling out of that society for them.

Unbalanced development of this kind has negative consequences for society. Studies that have been conducted and the two elections held last autumn reveal that. In particular, young people's lack of interest in voting could become a problem. At their worst, a sense of exclusion and political passivity could erupt as extreme anti-social phenomena.

Economic uncertainty is widespread in our society. The 1990s have seen many families with children experience sudden impoverishment, a dead end in their life situation. Family violence is also a worrying phenomenon.

The information that we are receiving about the plight of families with children indicates that we need to concentrate more empathetically on this problem. We must not allow a generation of joyless children to come into being.

It is, however, encouraging that faith in a better economic development has begun to stir. And not without reason, either. Yet the challenge posed by unemployment is forcing governments in various parts of the world to create more humane solutions in an effort to safeguard economic prosperity. Only a rare few still recommend exposure to the caprices of market forces as the sole solution.

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Our economy is growing, but that on its own will not solve our unemployment problems.

A lasting solution to unemployment calls for mobilisation of all of society, that we listen to the unemployed, find new means, new entrepreneurs and a greater sense of common responsibility than in the past. We need to abandon old beliefs and prejudices. We need the full strength of our creativity.

Signs of the national activation that I have hoped for, of a kind of mobilisation against unemployment, have been in evidence during the past year.

Employment solutions of a new kind are emerging. To take some examples, thousands of new jobs have been created in sports and civic organisations, local-level agreement on terms of employment is gaining ground, new cooperation networks with the purpose of promoting employment have been opened in regions and between municipalities. The Finns have set themselves in motion.

The contribution of the regions is now more important than it was in the past. In an integrating Europe, the intrinsic cultural and economic strength of regions as well as of urban and municipal communities forms a healthy foundation for development. By using European Union regional subsidies correctly, we can open up new and important opportunities. Data reflecting those subsidies' impact on employment are encouraging.

From the perspective of lessening unemployment, the year that has just begun will be decisive. The prospects for improving the employment situation in 1997 are good. Yet we should monitor the trend alertly, and we should not shy from new, open-minded actions when the situation calls for them.

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The esteem that the European Union enjoys among citizens will depend on its ability to achieve concrete results in important matters. Especially when member states' own resources are inadequate, the Union must accept responsibility.

Europe will not be able to cope with the global economic transition without developing into a single economic space. It will also have to be a partner in international cooperation, especially when practical solutions to new security concerns are being developed. That is an argument in favour of strengthening the EU's position in international politics.

The advent of economic and monetary union (EMU) will affect all Finns, not just our economy. The function of EMU will be to create a stable continent-wide economic foundation.

Above all, Finland has emphasised the importance of preparing for EMU. We have kept a range of alternatives open, but our point of departure is that when we decide to join we must be adequately prepared.

Parliament will decide in due course whether Finland will be among the first batch of states to join EMU. That decision will be important and the Members of Parliament will have to take very many different things into account when they are arriving at it. It is not just a question of what effects our joining will have, but equally of what remaining outside would ultimately mean for us.

It is already obvious that once EMU has come into being there will be no returning to an economic operational environment exactly the same as the one that existed earlier. Change will come in any event and we must understand that in time.

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In the past year hundreds of thousands of Africans had to leave their homes as a result of civil war. This crisis in the region of the great lakes of East Africa nearly turned into a catastrophe. Fortunately, that was averted this time round.

In Bosnia, the preconditions for lasting peace could be strengthened with the support of the international community's IFOR operation. This operation, in which also Finland is participating, is now continuing with a civilian emphasis. Without a major international effort, Bosnia would face the threat of sliding back into civil war.

The past year also brought us warnings that the world's food reserves had declined to an alarmingly low level. Although there is no immediate threat of a food crisis, it is important to be prepared, and we cannot afford negligence.

Our security concerns are to an increasing extent new in character, international threats that transcend national frontiers. Solving them will require greater practical cooperation. Here, a state like Finland that emphasises international cooperation and common responsibility has a lot to offer and a lot at stake.

At Keuruu in December I spoke on the subjects of Finland's international position and security-policy orientation. I said that Finland's international position is now good, perhaps better than ever in the time that we have been independent.

Naturally that is not a permanent situation: it calls for prosaic work on a daily basis. Besides that, many things do not depend on us. However, we cannot go into reverse, turn our clocks back to earlier decades as it were.

One factor that has affected the position of Finland and of all other states stems from the change that has taken place in Russia. We now have a different kind of neighbour, a Eurasian great power that is implementing major economic and political reforms. Economically, Russian is still seeking a stable growth groove for itself. Its aim is to be permanently a part of the new Europe, where states have committed themselves to observing the principles of the OSCE. We must see things in the right historical light and come to conclusions that strengthen the security of our continent.

Finland justifiably clings to the view that economic and political integration holds a key position from the perspective of our continent's security. We support enlargement of the European Union and believe that it will pose a major challenge for the whole of the coming decade. Enlargement presupposes that the ongoing Inter-Governmental Conference will increase the efficiency with which the EU functions. That is the most effective way of combatting new threats to security, the problems arising from obsolete nuclear equipment, crime, trafficking in human beings and drugs.

An enlarging and strengthening EU is also the best partner for Russia and the other major players in the international community. In such interaction, Finland can build her future on a stable and secure foundation.

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Finnishness and all of our cultural assets came into being through interaction with the rest of the world. Our artists, writers, entrepreneurs and representatives of the scientific community work within the framework of this intensifying interaction. Now we need our healthy self-esteem. Society should encourage, not shackle. As Aleksis Kivi said: "The fish that we angle for are the ones we catch!"

We can be confident. We have a magnificent country in which to live and dwell. Our intellectual capital is a wealth. Let us now demonstrate our capacity for common responsibility, for caring about others. In the year that has just begun, let us make our country a warmer and friendlier place to live in and visit.

I wish all citizens a good and successful New Year and God's blessing.

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