Address by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at a dinner for heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Finland at the Presidential Palace 13.4.2000

The long Finnish winter has ended and we stand on the threshold of spring. In its customary fashion, our vernal season is arriving gradually; spells of sunshine alternate with flurries of snow. For those of you who have spent your first winter in Finland it is probably encouraging to note that the gloom is not eternal; with the arrival of spring dawns a time of light.

It gives me and my partner special pleasure to have you here as our guests this evening. During my five years as Minister for Foreign Affairs, I naturally had a great deal of contact with the diplomatic corps in Helsinki. You will not be seeing the last of me now, either, because I intend to keep up my links with you in my new office.

The last few years have been interesting for us Finns, and certainly also for you whose task it is to report to your governments on events and developments in Finland. In the course of just over a year we have elected a new Parliament, chosen our MEPs and had a presidential election. Next autumn we shall be electing our local authorities. Political activity has been lively and will remain so.

In addition to the elections, Finland’s tenure of the EU Presidency for the latter half of 1999 added its own dash of interest. The period when we held the helm was certainly a busy one for you, but I can assure you that it meant a lot of hard work for us Finns as well.

Our Presidency has been the focus of numerous evaluations and analyses. I am probably not far off the mark in saying that most of you here have sent your government your own assessment.

For Finland the Presidency was a veritable "academy of EU studies". In the opinion of some, it is only through holding the Presidency that a state becomes a fully-fledged member. Where Finland is concerned, it is obvious that we are now a more active - and hopefully also more influential - member of the European Union.

In accordance with the decisions reached in Helsinki, brisk progress has taken place in the EU’s crisis-management work. That is a good thing. The main emphasis until now has been on developing a military crisis-management capacity; it is good that recent times have seen a lot of work also on the civilian side. Special thanks for this are due to the current holder of the Presidency, Portugal, which arranged a seminar on the theme in Lisbon last week.

The recent crises in Kosovo, East Timor and Mozambique clearly demonstrate the importance of civilian crisis management. Military actions are needed to pacify a situation and bring about basis stability. Then it is time for civilian measures to rebuild and develop the society.

Developing the resources available for civilian crisis management demands a lot of work. A crisis-management operation involving tens of thousands of soldiers was gotten under way relatively quickly in Kosovo. By contrast, finding a few thousand police officers and deploying them there proved an almost impossible operation. This is not an acceptable situation; we must be able to do better.

The cooperation of all parties is essential in civilian crisis management. Here, the UN and its special agencies have a pivotal role. European actors, the EU, the OSCE and the Council of Europe, must be able to work out a division of labour that functions well. The EU need not do everything by itself; there are others to share the burden.

A new Constitution has been in force in Finland since the beginning of March. Under it as earlier, the President of the Republic is responsible for the conduct of foreign policy. At the same time, the Constitution emphasises cooperation between the President and the Government. On the basis of the brief experience that we have had to date, I can say that this cooperation is going well.

On my own and my partner’s behalf I thank the diplomatic corps accredited to Helsinki for good cooperation and raise my glass in a toast to you.