Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at a ceremony marking the 110th anniversary of the Finnish Society in Stockholm on 24.4.2004

It gives me great pleasure to attend the 110th-anniversary celebrations of the Finnish Society in Stockholm. Your activities and the programme for your celebrations are a splendid demonstration of the vitality of both your society and Finnishness in Sweden.

The Finnish heritage rests on a strong foundation in Sweden. Since the Second World War, about 540,000 people have moved from Finland to Sweden, whilst 300,000 have migrated in the other direction. This means in practice that since the Second World War over half a million Finns and their descendants have been helping to build Sweden’s society. Correspondingly, Sweden’s experiences and models have powerfully influenced Finland, in the spheres of both legislation and free civic activities.

You, the members of the Finnish Society here in Stockholm and other Finns in Sweden, can be proud of the contributions you have made to your new home country. You have helped create the People’s Home of Sweden, to which people have moved from so many countries and for so many reasons.

Many Finns who moved to Sweden only intended to stay here temporarily. In the cases of some, that is also how things worked out and they eventually returned to Finland. For the majority, however, temporary became permanent and many of them nowadays have deep roots in Swedish society. The granting of minority language status to Finnish four years ago was a clear expression of the fact that also Swedes see Finnish immigrants as a permanent part of the population. As a minority with special language rights.

The Swedish legislation concerning the minority does not in and of itself solve all problems and challenges. Only a small part of all Finnish-speakers in Sweden come under its terms. Now, however, possibilities of expanding the geographical scope of its application to include the entire Stockholm and Mälaren Valley region are being investigated. A second central challenge relates to the legislation’s implementation, which is largely the responsibility of local authorities. Without these authorities’ active input, the legislation’s potential will not be reflected in practical life.

The authorities can support the status of the minority, but the future of Finns as a national minority in Sweden will be shaped also by Finns themselves. Maintaining and strengthening a national identity and self-awareness demands constant work. Schools, Finnish societies and other voluntary activities have a decisively important position in this work.

As migration eases off, it is obvious that the activities of Finnish associations in Sweden are no longer a part of everyday life, especially since the Finns have adapted to their new home country. This seems to happen especially quickly in smaller localities. That makes it all the more important to continue and develop activities in larger population centres like Stockholm. This anniversary celebration at least shows that the cultural tradition is alive and thriving.

Finnishness is well-placed to survive and continue to flourish in Sweden. The proximity of our two countries makes it easy to keep in contact with Finland, relatives and Finnish culture. Through the media it is possible to keep abreast of events in Finland and in touch with our language on a daily basis if necessary. Besides, Sweden supports multiculturalism and the activities of minorities in many ways.

The issue of the Swedish language’s status in the Finnish matriculation examination has prompted a certain amount of attention also in Sweden. What is involved is a part of a broader revision of the examination to increase individual choice substantially. The only subject that will remain obligatory is the pupil’s mother tongue.

Experiments that have been carried out indicate that the majority of pupils will take Swedish as an optional subject. In Swedish-language schools, Finnish is an optional exam subject. It is our hope that giving pupils a choice will increase motivation and lead to an improved result in studying Swedish, which remains a compulsory subject for all schoolchildren. A variety of measures to improve teaching are being examined.

* * * *

Finnish migration to Sweden is part of an international development. Movement of people across borders came up in the work of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation, which I co-chaired together with President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania. Our report was published in February and we are now promoting implementation of the proposals which it contains.

More and more people are moving from one country to another, temporarily or permanently. Over the past decade, the number migrating each year has been around 10 million. Migration is affecting more and more countries and taking place increasingly often between developing nations.

In the course of the decades the international community has negotiated and concluded numerous covenants and conventions. The aim is to lower and eliminate barriers to international trade and other economic endeavours. However, there is no convention concerning the movement of people from one country to another, even though the matter is touched on in, for example, conventions concerning working life and international trade in services.

In the view of our commission, a set of international regulations on cross-border movement of people should be created. This would make migratory flows more managed, prevent exploitation of migrants and bring benefits to both countries of origin and those in which migrants settle. This is a sensitive and difficult area, but the matter will not be made any easier nor improved by doing nothing. I am pleased that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a Global Commission on International Migration, the work of which Sweden is supporting financially.

Migrants’ chance of a better standard of living is reflected in the countries from which they depart. At the moment, migrants remit over $75 billion a year to their native countries; this is half as much again as the official development aid total.

However, it would be good to bear in mind that what we are talking about is people, our kith and kin. You all know that moving from one country to another is always a challenge for both those who move and those who stay at home as well as those whom migrants encounter in a new country.

The right of people to work in another country is a central matter also in enlargement of the European Union. Ten new countries will join in a week’s time, but citizens of the new member states will not have an automatic right to work in the “old member states”. This shows how sensitive a matter cross-border migration is.

* * * *

Finnishness is alive and thriving in Sweden. We can see that it is especially strong in the Finnish Society in Stockholm. I want to thank you for the good work you have been doing for Finns and Finnishness.

The work of the Finnish Society in Stockholm is respected in both Sweden and Finland. I wish you continuing vitality and success in the coming years and decades as well.