Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at a banquet given in honour of President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński on 10 April 2008

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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, Mr President, and your wife most cordially on your state visit to Finland. Poland and Finland have enjoyed much interaction over the centuries. Today, our relations are very close, and I believe that our ties will grow even stronger in the near future.

In the middle of the 19th century, both Finland and Poland experienced a national awakening, which eventually led to independence and to both our nations taking their place among the free nations of the world. In those difficult times, the national awakening prompted a flourishing of culture, specifically in the fine arts, music and literature. Frédéric Chopin embodied the ideals of Poland in his Revolutionary Etude, and Jean Sibelius gave equally powerful expression to the longing for freedom of Finns in his tone poem Finlandia.

I know that you, Mr President, have a family interest in visiting Finland. We know that your grandfathers on both your mother’s and your father’s side spent some time here in the late 19th century when Finland was still under Imperial Russian rule: your grandfather Aleksander Kaczyński was a high-ranking railway official, while your other grandfather Aleksander Jasiewicz was a construction engineer. On your state visit to Finland today, you are literally following in the footsteps of your ancestors.

We greatly appreciate your paying a state visit to our country. Of course, this is not the first time that you and I have had the opportunity to exchange thoughts, but this state visit provides an excellent context for engaging in even closer cooperation between our two countries and thereby strengthening our common interests as neighbours, as countries of the Baltic Sea region and as Member States of the European Union.

Finland and Poland have been active trading partners for many decades. For a long time, to simplify a bit, we just exchanged wood for coal. But our trade has diversified since those days, and its growth rate has been in double digits for many years now.

At the same time, our economic relations have become deeper. Finns have begun finding investment opportunities in Finland, and an increasing number of Finnish companies are located there. Finnish investments in Poland already exceed 1.5 billion euros, and Finnish companies employ tens of thousands of people in Poland. Also, Polish workers are increasingly finding their way to Finland, and Polish companies are equally welcome in Finland.

The free movement of people also brings our countries together in many ways. There are now five daily flights from Helsinki to Warsaw and vice versa, and flights to Gdansk and Cracow too. Tourist flows are greater than ever. Just over a week ago, the Schengen rules came into effect at airports in the new Member States, and this marked the achievement of the free travel of people throughout the EU.

But there are many other developments too. Students have had access to the exchange programmes of the EU for years now, and an entire ‘Erasmus generation’ has emerged in Europe. This has contributed to a natural conception of what it is to be European. Increasing the mobility of information and cooperation among scientists and professors will fuel the development of innovations.

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After the latest enlargement of the EU, the Baltic Sea is a true ‘Mare Nostrum’. It is historically an important tie between our two nations, an important trade route and a source of livelihood for the peoples living on its shores. It is a source of relaxation for holidaymakers and inspiration for artists. In more troubled times, it has been a theatre of war. Yet over the centuries the Baltic Sea has done more to bring people together than to divide them.

But today the sea itself is unwell. The yield of its previously abundant waters is continuously declining. Its potential for leisure use is being strangled by the progress of blue-green algae. A photo of a sailboat threading its way through clouds of blue-green algae was nominated ‘Photo of the Year’ in Finland.

We still have a chance to save the Baltic Sea, but we have to act quickly and act together with great determination so that we can implement the action plan for saving the Baltic Sea which we have approved together at HELCOM. This is not about apportioning blame; it is about finding solutions for saving the sea. We must draw on every possibility, every city, every region, every country and every tool available through the EU. We need governments, non-governmental organizations and other bodies. I am glad to say that the EU is finally outlining a Baltic Sea strategy and that cooperation to stop eutrophication is now emerging.

Finland and Poland are today both Member States of the European Union. The so-called great enlargement of the EU four years ago brought together what war tore apart more than 60 years ago. We Finns are happy to be members of the same union as you.

But we must remember that the EU is not the same thing as Europe. We must continue to work together with Europe-wide organizations to strengthen democracy, increase respect for human rights and establish the rule of law everywhere on our continent. As the current holder of the Presidency of the OSCE, Finland is doing its best in pursuing these goals.

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Our two countries enjoy excellent relations, and our cooperation is becoming broader and more diverse all the time. In addition to state relations, our citizens are active at various levels of society. Regions, cities and friendship societies pursuing cooperation have continued their activities and shown their strength through the years and under different circumstances.

Finland celebrated the 90th anniversary of its independence last year, and this year Poland’s newly found independence reaches the same milestone. Both Finland and Poland paid a high price for their independence amid the turmoil of Europe, and both were obliged to defend it with great sacrifices later. Today, we value our independence just as much as our forefathers did 90 years ago.

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Mr President, I would like to propose a toast to yourself and your wife, to the prosperity of Poland and to continuing rich cooperation between Poland and Finland!