Address by the President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the 135th Anniversary of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki 26.11.2003

Dear members of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki and guests,

It is my pleasure and honour to attend this anniversary of our most tradition-rich student union. At 135 years old, the Student Union of the University of Helsinki is Finland’s oldest and largest student union which continues today to play an active role in protecting the rights of its students within Finland’s welfare society.

Throughout history we Finns have been united in their effort to build our lives in peace, in freedom and on our own terms. This does not, however, mean isolationism. We know that creating a better world begins at home and that the building of a more secure Finland also takes place beyond our borders.

Security above all means security in our everyday lives. Where we work, our schools, health care, child day care, pensions, well-lit and cared-for roads, places to study, pensions, our emergency services, the police and many other factors all contribute to making our everyday lives safe and secure.

Also essential to this everyday security are democracy, human rights and observance of the right to the principle of constitutional government. People have to be able to decide their own affairs; every person receives human rights as a birthright, which cannot be taken from them; and every person should be able to trust that matters affecting them will be decided jointly, in accordance with approved rules, not just on a whim.

Increasingly the threats to security of Finland and the Finnish population are not military in nature. Pollution, natural disasters, infectious diseases, illegal immigration, international crime and economic uncertainty are all threats which we cannot guard against militarily. Which is why we aim to promote international interaction and the sealing of joint agreements to protect against common threats and dangers.

The Kyoto agreement, the international court of justice, enlargement of the European Union and fair international trade agreements are all central tools for ensuring international – and Finnish – security. Security is born primarily out of joint actions and rules, not from isolationism.

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Finland’s security policy is good and strong. There is no threat of major war on our continent and we have, practically speaking, excellent relations with all the nations of the world. The continuing change in international relations nevertheless forces us to monitor our environment and to influence it actively.

‘Staying on good terms with the neighbours’ is still the cornerstone of our international relations. No country, least of all a comparatively small one, can maintain a credible international presence if it has significant problems with its own neighbours. From Finland’s side, this situation is fine: our relations with all our neighbours are better than at any other time during the period of our independence.

We are active participants in European co-operation arrangements. Central to this is our membership of the European union, not forgetting the Council of Europe or the OSCE. We also have a good working co-operative relationship with NATO.

At a global level we are active members of the UN, its organizations, the World Trade Organization and international peacekeeping organizations. For decades we have been part of UN-led peacekeeping operations and our contribution to the UN development programmes has been notable. For Finland the UN has been, and continues to be, the most important element of a multilateral world order. The UN’s significance to world peace and security is irreplaceable.

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As a member of the European Union Finland is bound to follow the common EU foreign and security policy, the aim of which in part is to ‘secure the common values of the Union, its basic rights, its independence and its inviolability’ as well as ‘to strengthen the Union’s security in all its forms’. In the same way Finland is obligated to abstain from ‘all actions which are against the good of the Union or which, in themselves, could harm its effectiveness as a combined power in international relations.

In becoming a member of the European Union Finland became a politically aligned country. We find ourselves in a multi-stranded political and economic union with 14 other EU countries. Next year our union will have ten new members.

In order to actively promote peace, security and welfare, the EU needs the ability to handle both civilian and military crises in addition to its political and economic activities. Finland has participated actively and in a highly practical way in the development of the EU’s crisis management capabilities. Crisis management operations were introduced to the constitution of the EU at Finland’s and Sweden’s suggestion at the Amsterdam summit and concrete targets for EU crisis management capabilities were approved under our chairmanship.

Certain member countries are not satisfied with the development of crisis management capabilities but strive to make the EU more than just a political union and into a defence union. The clauses on defence have changed just as the EU constitution itself has changed. The same pressure has continued to be evident this year in the convention and the subsequent intergovernmental conference work.

Finland has not deemed it necessary to turn the EU into a defence union. In our view, within the bounds of the current intergovernmental conference there is no need for marked changes in the current wording of the EU defence clauses.

In our view, bringing a mutual defence obligation within the EU would not necessarily reinforce the security of Europe or of Finland.

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This autumn our country has witnessed a dialogue, primarily through the media, about Finland’s possible membership in NATO. The dialogue itself may be desirable and beneficial even though there may be no need at the moment for making new decisions on this.

NATO is important in the security architecture of Europe. As I noted earlier, we have a good co-operation with NATO. We participate in NATO-led peacekeeping operations and in a peace partnership programme and we are developing our military crisis management capabilities in line with NATO criteria.

Threats to the security of Finland and the position of our security policy have been addressed, following the end of the Cold War, in reviews of our security and defence policy. Both Government and Parliament have been of one mind that Finland has had no need to align itself militarily.

The next time the position of Finland’s security policy will be substantially assessed is in next year’s review and in the subsequent parliamentary sessions. At this juncture I have no reason to look for specific arguments either for or against membership of NATO. I will, however, reiterate some basics.

Finland’s defence is always primarily our responsibility, regardless of whether we are part of a union or not.

Finland is not facing any threat to its security that would require us to fundamentally change the basic arrangements of our defence policy.

Every state has the right to choose its own security arrangements. It is up to us whether we stay outside defence alliances or whether we apply to join. NATO will decide itself whether, and when to accept new members. And NATO has promised to keep its doors open for new members in the future.

We will actively monitor development in Europe and the world. We will nevertheless make our own independent decision, on our own terms. Whatever decisions we make will have no direct relation with the decisions of other countries.

The decisions of the current intergovernmental conference may influence our security policy situation and decisions on the continuance of or change in our policy of military non-alignment. There is no automatic link involved here, however.