3 / 2000
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European Union common defence
FORWARD MARCH!
The Finnish Presidency in 1999 gathered a lot of journalists to the Helsinki European Council meeting. The first Finnish EU Presidency is successfully over. During the six months, one significant breakthrough was made. A common defence policy materialised in the decision on a crisis management force. At the same time, Finland was socialised into the EU and EU matters became familiar both to the officials and to the conference localities. Esko Antola, an EU expert and the holder of the Jean Monnet Professorship at the University of Turku, analyses how Finland managed the Presidency in general.
The Finnish Presidency from July to December 1999 was overshadowed by two issues: the reconstruction of Kosovo and recovery from the NATO bombing, as well as the Chechen war. Finland spent over 300 million marks on its six-month Presidency.
"It is difficult to estimate how well the general objectives that were set for the Presidency were achieved," Professor Antola begins. "Transparency and openness, for example, are so general and culture-bound that no one state can implement them in six months."
Information on the Internet
"However, Finland which is known for the extensive use of the Internet and mobile phones introduced technical improvements to the general flow of information."
The Finnish Presidency was the first so far to put a real-time Internet service into effect.
"Some kind of Internet page has been used before, but now much more information was available: the schedules and agendas of the meetings were easy to find," says Professor Antola and presumes that this will become a common practice which journalists can expect and demand from the Presidency.
"The Finnish Presidency succeeded technically extremely well despite minor initial difficulties, for example, with the issue of German interpretation."
According to Professor Antola, the main point of departure for the Presidency is that every Presidency inherits and carries forward 80 per cent of the previous Presidency’s agenda. Not many central issues will be resolved in six months.
A major breakthrough
"A concrete decision was made that a European crisis management force numbering 50, 000–60, 000 and independent of NATO will be formed in three years’ time. The next two Presidencies have the task of making a final proposal for the institutions and for everything that the implementation of the decision involves. The proposal is to be ready when France holds the Presidency in the second half of 2000."
Esko Antola Esko Antola believes that the Finnish Presidency will be remembered in future history books for two things: for the decision in principle that gives Turkey full membership candidate status, and for the materialisation of the development of a common defence policy. The latter is a major breakthrough and a very important political decision. For the first time since the Second World War, the Member States agreed to take an autonomous decision, independently of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, on defence policy. "There was no mention of this matter on the Finnish agenda. It was merely decided, especially because the large Member States, above all France and Great Britain, saw a political opportunity and were supported by Italy and Germany. The common view of these States made the decision possible. The Finnish contribution was not necessarily very great but Finland was able to bring the matter to a conclusion."
The Western European Union, the WEU, has so far been more or less a paper organisation, and therefore it is intended to integrate it into the European Union in accordance with the Amsterdam Treaty.
The new situation issues great challenges to Finland.
"From now on, we have to consider what is the relationship between NATO and the EU, and is there any need for Finland to join NATO."
Finland would most probably provide the crisis management force with a battalion, which means in practice three battalions, one on standby, a second at rest and the third in active service.
An economic giant but a political dwarf
Esko Antola believes that the decision to establish a crisis management force was influenced by the break-up of Yugoslavia and by the biggest failure in the history of EU foreign policy in handling the crisis in Yugoslavia. Moreover, the growth of the EU into an economic giant is of significance.
"The EU lost control of the situation in Yugoslavia and it had no influence over the crisis. The NATO bombing was a humiliating defeat for the EU."
"The euro is the second most important currency in the world today. The EU’ s share of the world trade is greater than that of the USA; as much as over a third of the world trade is carried out in euros. More people live in the EU area than in the USA."
"However, the EU is a political dwarf. The contradiction is so untenable that the EU must also acquire a profile as a political actor."
Security aspects already contributed to the birth of the European Union.
"It is believed that integration will end wars between the member states, and as a matter of fact, the Union seems to be successful in this. While previous generations had to fight because of the conflict between Germany and France, we can rest rather easy."
Professor Antola remarks that as the European Union enlarges, in the course of time there will be areas of smouldering unrest on its borders: Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, the Caucasus, the Balkans.
Training for journalists
According to Professor Antola, the most important criterion for the Presidency is whether the holder of the Presidency gets things going, whatever the circumstances. Despite the Chechen war, Professor Antola thinks that Finland succeeded rather well in this respect.
It is quite another matter whether it is reasonable to have a Presidency which rotates every six months; it is quite an operation after all.
"Moreover, Finland wasted time on unnecessary work, holding over ten supplementary informal meetings. Ironically, Finland had suggested in Helsinki that the number of informal meetings should be reduced to five, and Finland itself held fourteen supplementary ministerial level meetings and one informal summit!"
The Jean Monnet unit for its part contributed significantly to the Presidency. It continuously provides journalists with extensive EU training. Last year, the unit prepared the Finnish journalists for the Finnish Presidency by arranging over ten training courses, in which about 400 journalists participated.
Turkey will have to wait for membership
How does Turkey with its human rights problems fit in as a member of the European Union?
"As far as I can see, Turkey, as it is today, cannot become a Member State. I do not believe that anyone seriously thinks that membership negotiations will be started with Turkey; all it has is full candidate status."
"Turkey applied for membership as early as in the 1980s. The recent earthquake in Turkey aroused sympathy for the country, and this partly influenced the decision. The decision was also intended to soften up Turkey regarding the question of Cyprus."
"The EU is negotiating with Cyprus at the moment, which is rather inconceivable since Cyprus is known to be a split country and cannot become a Member in its present state."
"The decision to grant Turkey candidate status was also made in order to support the country’s moderate political leadership. The western-minded political elite in Turkey has been complaining of its difficult situation for a long time. The Americans have been pressing the EU for this decision, and Turkey was, after all, a very co-operative ally during the crisis in Kosovo."
Networks in the Baltic Sea Region by Terhi Suominen, Esko Antola and Hiski Haukkala is the latest publication by Jean Monnet Chair, University of Turku. http://www.utu.fi/erill/jean-monnet A clear content required
What happened to the much talked about northern dimension? The Finnish Prime Minister, Paavo Lipponen, thinks that the concept launched by the Finns progressed during the Finnish Presidency.
"It did not progress," says Professor Antola, shaking his head. "At the level of policy co-ordination, it probably went on under its own momentum, but the great political inspiration, the Meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers, was a failure because only the Norwegian and Russian Foreign Affairs Ministers showed up. The EU Foreign Affairs Ministers did not participate in the meeting."
"The concept of the northern dimension is too incoherent. We should first decide here in Finland what the concept means. We have studied the question at the University of Turku, and in the book Dynamic Aspects of the Northern Dimension, published last autumn by the Jean Monnet unit, our view is that the Baltic Sea region is central to the concept. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees the northern dimension as our relationship with Russia."
"The idea reminds me of the Nordic nuclear-weapon-free zone, a concept which was introduced by the late President, Urho Kekkonen. A good idea, which is hard to support as we do not understand ourselves what we mean by it. The northern dimension is in danger of becoming a permanent topic in our political discussion," says Professor Antola and wonders just what Prime Minister Lipponen makes of his opinion.
Paula Heino
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