Address by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the opening of the 2002 annual session of the Eduskunta on 5.2.2002

We have gathered to open the last full annual session of the present parliamentary term. The general election to be held in March next year will probably affect your work. Most of the sitting Deputies will be seeking renewed mandates and a large number of new aspirants have already announced themselves. What each and every one does will certainly be the focus of greater-than-usual attention both in this house and outside it.

Many matters still lie ahead and some of them are very demanding. But that, after all, is something that this parliament is used to by now. The Government presented 247 motions during the previous annual session. The Eduskunta, in turn, presented 147 replies. The diversity of matters to be dealt with was great, extending from deliberating Government reports to adopting the State budget and, of course, very extensive legislative work. All of these things demanded a lot of effort. One of the examples that I would like to highlight is the difficulty of enacting ordinary criminal or civil law which in this rapidly-changing world will stand the test of time not only from one parliamentary term to the next, but also from generation to generation. A second good example of solutions with far-reaching consequences is the possible construction of additional nuclear power capacity, something that will be receiving a lot of attention both in Finland and internationally this spring.

We Finns are travelling abroad, for shorter or longer stays and for a variety of reasons, more often than we used to. Others are likewise finding their way to us. I have very often spoken of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Following the events of recent times, I am even more convinced that in a meeting of cultures we must know our own space and accord value also to others. The need for shared moral codes is truly great.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the human-rights conventions based on it are, as the peoples themselves have announced, moral codes of this kind. Neither the conventions nor much less their implementation are perfect, but they do provide the best framework we know of. Globalisation will continue in practice. The resumed WTO negotiations and the results of the conference in Doha are welcome. An opening up of trade and globalisation have brought a lot of good, but it is impossible to deny that the development has also had its negative effects. Social justice and consideration of the environment also need to be championed. I am pleased that the Prime Minister has announced that the Government will try before the end of this spring to agree a timetable for raising the development cooperation appropriation to the 0.7 per cent of GNP recommended by the United Nations. The United Nations and its special agencies need our support to strengthen humane globalisation.

Finnish companies have achieved laudable success in international competition. In many assessments, our country has scored very high for business-friendliness. When taxation is discussed, what these common funds are needed for should be borne in mind. It is looking after people today, but also an investment in tomorrow. Educating and training people, ensuring that health care is available and helping our neighbours through difficulties are both a form of support for those individuals and an investment in competence and social stability. And they too are competition factors.

Provided it is done properly, enlargement of the European Union is a factor for stabilisation in our continent. Last December, the Eduskunta ratified the amendments to the founding treaty that the Intergovernmental Conference had approved a year earlier. In the EU as elsewhere, change has become a permanent state. The process leading up to a new Intergovernmental Conference has already begun. The Convention on the Future of the European Union will begin its work in March.

The Convention is expected to propose ways of developing the Union. The biggest challenges that have been recognised relate to enhancing the enlarging Union's capacity for decision making and strengthening its democratic character. To be able to produce genuine value-added, the Union must concentrate on the matters that are most essential from the perspective of citizens and on that basis make implementable decisions.

From among many important matters, the only one I want to highlight is strengthening the fundamental rights of citizens. The Convention offers a good opportunity to assess the position, in the Union's work, of both the Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted at Nice and the European Convention on Human Rights. In my view, the proposal put forward by Finland already at the previous IGC that the European Union should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights is still both right and topical.

For the first time, representatives of the member states' national legislatures will be able to participate directly on the EU level in preparations for the Intergovernmental Conference. In Finland, the civic discourse has been in progress for quite some time both on the Internet and in more traditional arenas, but I believe that parliamentarians could, because of their own work, have an especially good opportunity to introduce an everyday perspective into this work concerning the future of Europe.

The future of Europe is multicultural. At the same time, it must be solidly built on a foundation of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and social justice. Movement of people within the Union and from third countries to EU member states will continue. We must have common rules for immigration, as we decided already at the Tampere summit.

A central key in the integration of immigrants is learning the language of the country. More resources must be put into teaching Finnish or Swedish. Inadequate language skills have been one of the most important reasons for the low level of employment among immigrants.

Helping immigrants integrate into Finnish society does not mean that they should forget their background and culture. On the contrary, live integration enriches the culture of both immigrant and host society.

Assaults on and even killings of women are, unfortunately, aspects of everyday reality also in Finland. This is subjugation of women in an extreme form. These deeds should not be accepted under any circumstances nor in any culture's name. Recent years have seen steps of progress being achieved in the prevention of violence against women. There is still a lot to be done. Legislation is a solid foundation, but influencing the general climate of values is also absolutely essential. In that work we need a change in the role image of both women and men.

The security of the individual has been very much a topic of discussion with us in general in the past year. At the beginning of last summer, the Government gave the Eduskunta a report on security and defence policy, which dealt comprehensively with Finland's position in a changing world and the development needs of our national defence.

The report's through deliberation by Eduskunta committees and in a plenary session constitutes a valuable totality, which provisions us well to strengthen our security position and develop our defence. On the basis of decisions made up to now, the next report is due to be given in 2004. Naturally, we must constantly influence the environment in which we live and monitor the appropriateness of our own decisions. I believe, however, that our basic security policy solution is a good one.

Our starting points with respect to defence are general conscription, territorial defence and the principle that the entire country will be defended. I want to emphasise that although the task of our armed forces is specifically to defend Finland, we are bearing our share of international responsibility. Our peacekeepers have received much appreciation. Actual operational tasks have been conducted conscientiously and in addition to that we have traditionally tried to make the everyday lives of the local population easier. Therefore it is not at all remarkable that in international crisis-management cooperation we are increasingly in demand for specifically CIMIC operations.

The latest task in which our peacekeepers are contributing is the international security and aid operation in Afghanistan. Taking part in international operations develops the skill of our Defence Forces' regular personnel and reservists, thereby contributing to strengthening our national defence as well. Brisk action on the part of the Eduskunta has helped make it possible for Finnish involvement to begin on schedule, and for that I would like to express my thanks in this conjunction.

My cooperation with the Eduskunta during the past year has had also its awkward moments. There is scope for interpretation in the application of new and old legislative provisions. However, our new Constitution has already demonstrated that it functions effectively. What matters most is that we preserve the spirit of cooperation that the Constitution requires. After the general election next year, a new government will be formed in accordance with the provisions of the new Constitution. I suppose we have all begun pondering in advance how the matter will be handled in practice.

The Eduskunta is the representative of the Finnish people. You have a lot of important national tasks and an increasing number of significant international ones as well. In addition to interparliamentary cooperation, several international organisations and communities, such as the Nordic Council, the Council of Europe and the OSCE have their parliamentary dimensions. Cooperation between national parliaments within the EU is likewise important. Finnish parliamentarians are respected cooperation partners. I hope that also this part of your work will be given growing appreciation.

This is the last annual session that this Eduskunta will begin in its present composition. I thank you Madam Speaker and Distinguished Deputies for excellent cooperation and declare the 2002 annual session open.