'New Europe' to emerge from Finnish presidency

Finland's EU presidency will seek to bring a 'New Europe' out of the present division between old and new members, Finnish ambassador to Italy and Malta, Pauli Makela, stated in St Julian's on Friday.

Mr Makela was addressing a public dialogue on the Finnish Presidency programme organised by the Forum for Europe. Seven leading priorities have been identified for the next six months: the future of the EU; competitiveness; energy; climate change; external relations; citizens' access to justice; transparent and efficient procedures; and the Western Balkans.

"The recent enlargement has altered the Union's dynamics," Mr Makela said, "with a fundamental change of mood from the previous 'core' community approach to intergovernmentalism and shifting coalitions according to issues.

"In the eyes of its citizens, the Union's legitimacy has weakened, people cannot see what use the Union is to them. Secondly, there is the Union's somewhat weak performance, particularly in decision-making.

"These two problems must be addressed simultaneously since they have developed into vicious circles. We also need to think about what kind of Europe we want in 10 or 20 years."

The Union could function more effectively within existing treaties, he continued, and must focus on fundamentals, increase transparency, simplify procedures while delivering more added value than could be achieved by each individual member state acting alone while fully respecting the subsidiarity principle.

On the stalled EU constitution, which Mr Makela hoped the Finnish parliament would ratify during the Presidency, Finland would be developing proposals for implementing the European Council's decision in June to move on from reflection to delivering concrete results and implementing projects while exploring future options.

Membership negotiations with Turkey and Croatia would be a key focus, while the EU would be deciding on the accession timetable for Romania and Bulgaria during the Presidency. Finland's goal for the December European Council was to consolidate all aspects of future enlargement and achieve a new consensus, ensuring absolute equality between all members, old and new

"Although a global actor, the EU does not have time to reflect on its external action," Mr Maleka pointed out. "Finland aims to strengthen the EU's international role, in particular its crisis management capacity and reinforce the consistency of its actions especially in the use of its comprehensive set of foreign policy instruments.

"Full operational capability of the Rapid Reaction Force from the beginning of 2007 should be confirmed during this Presidency.

"Apart from the very serious situation in the Middle East and what the EU's role should be, and the need to continue sustaining stabilisation in the Western Balkans, relations with Russia are critical, and should be developed into a broadly based partnership in which we can share our European values and global interests.

"A more long-term framework is also needed to enable the EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland to work together as equal partners on common issues within the so-called 'Northern Dimension'."

On November 24, the EU-Russia summit in Helsinki is expected to set the scene for negotiations on a new broadly based pact with Russia to replace the expiring 1997 Partnership and Co-operation Agreement.

"Competitiveness will be prominent on the agenda of various Council formations," Mr Makela added. "The key challenge is to identify the basis for economic growth in Europe. Finland's answer includes innovation, energy solutions, quality of work and productivity, openness of global trade, immigration and a well-functioning social protection system - which distinguishes the European from the Asian or American model.

"Competitiveness and innovation will be a key agenda point for the informal meeting of heads of state and government in Lahti on October 20, parallelled by a Tripartite Social Summit nearby. Leaders will also discuss energy issues and hold a dinner meeting with Russia's President Putin."

Finland will identify possibilities to streamline decision-making procedures on police and judicial co-operation, he indicated.

"On illegal immigration we need to look at the full range of options open to the Union, including a common approach to legal immigration. We must also try to ensure that a common EU asylum policy is in place by 2010."

Foreign Minister Michael Frendo thanked Finland for placing migration on the agenda of tomorrow's General Affairs and External Relations Council, insisting on the critical need to launch joint EU maritime patrols in the Central Mediterranean as soon as possible.

"Last week's Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development in Morocco was the start of an important process. As chair-in-office of the Commonwealth, Malta supports a stronger EU-African dialogue and welcomes the forthcoming EU-African summit in Lisbon organised by the Finnish presidency."

Warning that the Middle East situation - a major focus of Maltese foreign policy - was "spiralling out of control", Dr Frendo saw a key role for Finland in ensuring that the EU, alongside other Quartet members (UN, US, Russia) would do everything possible to achieve a comprehensive negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority based on the 'two-state' solution.

On energy issues, Dr Frendo urged greater attention to the Union's internal resources and energy potential, and also how present EU refining capacity related to strategic needs - a critical issue for Malta.