Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the opening of the 2010 session of Parliament, 3 February 2010

(check against delivery)

Mr Speaker,
Members of Parliament,

We are opening the Parliament’s final session of the electoral term in a very challenging situation. In a short time, the international community has been faced with several crises that must be resolved. In addition, each country has its own national issues to deal with, such as the rapid ageing of the population in our case.

Improving employment is the biggest immediate challenge in Finland. Although there are already signs that the economy is turning upward, unemployment is still rising. This year hundreds of thousands of people are out of work and tens of thousands have been temporarily laid off. According to statistics, differences in income and wealth as well as differences in health between population groups seem to have continued to increase, causing concern.

Unemployment among young people is especially alarming. I myself have raised many times the long-term consequences of prolonged unemployment among young people. All of us surely agree that we simply cannot afford a lost generation. We need effective means to correct the situation. The Government and Parliament must effectively strive to do their own part, but a lot of responsibility still falls on others.

The proper functioning of a welfare society requires finances that are based on sufficient revenue and carefully considered expenditure. Unemployment is wasteful. Unemployment absorbs the resources of individuals and society. Focusing on employment helps now and is also an investment in our shared future.

In managing employment, a national consensus should be achieved very soon.

People's careers can be lengthened at both ends. Coercion does not help in this situation. In a period of high unemployment, individuals are not willing to accept changes. It is therefore necessary to create confidence in the adequacy of social security and society's ability to really help people get through hard times. The future requires sustainable solutions in social policy and the development of working life content-wise.

Our nation's basic starting points for the new decade are still fairly good. Finnish education, health care and social security have been international success stories.

We Finns are accustomed to taking society's basic structures and the reliability of services for granted. Recently this trust has been put to the test all too often. Unfortunate events have shown that the quality of services can suffer in the otherwise necessary pursuit of efficiency. Competive tendering, outsourcing and privatization may partly serve to improve efficiency, but they must not endanger people's security. For an individual, preparing damage may be impossible, and from the viewpoint of the service system, as a whole, corrective measures may be expensive and difficult.

Living as a community has been a resource - let us take care of it. The welfare society opens up possibilities for people and businesses.

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One of the characteristics of a developed society is the great ability to find agreement - the ability to recognize the interests of different groups and the tensions between them, but also the ability to encourage people to find compromises.

In the middle of the Winter War, 70 years ago, labour market organizations concluded the "January engagement". This was a signal to the outside world of the unity of the Finnish nation. It also created the basis for the collective bargaining that has continued for decades. Negotiating agreements has allowed the steady and long-term development of prosperity. In this global world, it is still needed to ensure the sustainable development of man and nature. Agreements may take different forms, but maintaining trust requires common will and action on the part of decision-makers of society and the different parties.

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In foreign and security policy as well, our objective is cooperation and seeking agreement. In a globalizing world security challenges are increasingly shared. The general level of awareness is higher and people now see more clearly how everything affects everything else. Security is understood as a broad whole in which international cooperation is required to meet interlinked challenges.

This has been clearly visible in seeking ways to respond to the international financial crisis or to mitigate climate change and adapt to its consequences. We cannot wait for miracles but must believe in long-term work.

This interaction among different parts of society - peace, security and development - has always been included in the basic objectives of the United Nations.

A strong, democratic society prevents crises from erupting and the outlook for such a society is better even in the face of major difficulties. Natural disasters are, of course, unpredictable and can lead to extreme human suffering. The destruction caused by the earthquake in Haiti is on the same order as that of the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia five year ago. Finns have responded to the distress of the people of Haiti, and we have quickly joined in international humanitarian work. We should remember, however, that Haiti was a fragile country to begin with, and so reconstruction under the leadership of the UN requires a broad range of crisis management tools and will last long.

Unfortunately, armed conflicts continue to exist. These conflicts have become more complex and difficult to manage. This has also stimulated discussion regarding Finland's possibilities to participate in international crisis management.

In addition to the UN, crisis management operations are conducted by regional organizations such as the European Union, the African Union or NATO. The regional sharing of responsibility is already visible. It is, however, important for countries outside different regions or organizations to be able to participate in operations as well. Otherwise there is a risk that crises may become tools in regional power struggles.

After thorough deliberation I decided together with the Government to be prepared to propose an increase in our participation in Afghanistan in the areas of development cooperation as well as civilian and military crisis management. This is part of broad international cooperation. I hope that Finland can particularly be involved in improving the position of women and girls in the country. The necessary report will be submitted by the Government in the near future.

The concept of a comprehensive approach in international crisis management got me to thinking that in our own society's preparedness we must also be able to ensure smooth cooperation among different sectors. Since the development of military and non-military service is presently being studied in different groups, I suggested that military and non-military service could include joint training segments particularly at the beginning.

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The European Union has finished its treaty process that lasted many years. Now that the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force, the Union can focus on practical matters and show that is a responsible and energetic international actor.

Cooperation with the other Nordic countries, the Baltic countries, Russia and all the states in the Baltic Sea region is important to promote stability and security in northern Europe. I expect the Baltic Sea Action Summit that will take place in Helsinki a week from now to make a strong commitment to saving our maritime environment. We must make the Baltic Sea a sea of sustainable development whose protection can serve as an example to others. We must also strive to increase cooperation in the arctic region in order to deal with changes resulting from global warming.

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Parliament thus appears to have a very busy year ahead. In addition, this Parliament may consider a Government proposal to amend Finland's Constitution. I have often been asked about my experiences concerning the functioning of the Constitution, particularly with regard to foreign policy. I have answered that in my opinion it would be in Finland's interests for the President of the Republic to continue to direct foreign and security policy in cooperation with the Government.

I thank the Speakers and Members of Parliament for your cooperation and wish you success and wisdom in your demanding work for the fatherland.

I declare the 2010 session of Parliament open.