President Halonen opens 2004 session of the Eduskunta

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen declared the 2004 annual session of the Finnish Parliament, Eduskunta open on Tuesday 3 February. She said in her address that drafting of the report on security and defence policy to be submitted to the Eduskunta this year has been making good progress and is on schedule.

Speaker of the Parliament, Mr. Paavo Lipponen and President Tarja Halonen. Photo: Lehtikuva.

In the President’s assessment, the rapid development of the situation in Europe together with broader international changes makes the report especially important. She reminded the legislators that creative, but yet realistic deliberation must be the aim given that chances of knowing what the future will bring are limited.

On the subject of the bills to be presented to the Eduskunta during the 2004 session, one that the President mentioned is intended to amend the legislation on execution of sentences. In her view, decisions to release life prisoners on probation should, as the regular procedure, be decided by courts of law. A person sentenced to life imprisonment can nowadays be released only if granted a pardon by the President of the Republic.

The President expressed her hope that voter participation in next June’s European Parliament elections will be high. She noted that the importance of the European Parliament has increased and that the new Constitutional Treaty would further add to its powers. MEPs are important wielders of influence, who can make a significant contribution on Finland’s and the Finns’ behalf. In her view, the Finns should give some thought to how they can promote matters of importance to them more effectively in the European Parliament as well as how the input of MEPs could be strengthened in their own country’s social discourse and decision making.
The other principal themes in the President’s speech included the European Union’s Intergovernmental Conference and the reconstruction of Iraq.

Full text of the speech