Liisa Jaakonsaari, a Finnish politician with a respectable career of over 30 years has soon held a position in the European parliament for two years. I sat down with her to discuss about Europe’s state today and in the future, especially from a Finnish viewpoint. The European Union is facing serious problems which Jaakonsaari sees more than else as acid tests.
Liisa Jaakonsaari is the former head of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in Finland
I am meeting Jaakonsaari outside the parliament building in Brussels. As we move on to a close by café we chat about her everyday life in Brussels.
– I walked to the parliament this morning. It takes something like an hour from my apartment.
Jaakonsaari, who likes to hike and fish on her free time, says that for a MEP apartment is close to a must since most of the work is situated in Brussels. She has been extremely busy lately and says that it has mostly to do with taking part in too many committees. At the moment her first priority is the special committee of Financial, Economic and Social Crisis.
Financial crisis is a touchstone for the EU
To the question, whether financial aid is the right way to go in Europe these days, Jaakonsaari answers fairly diplomatically.
– The efforts to help have been right and ambitious and judging by the circumstances they have been successful. It is however true that using this kind of conduct cannot continue forever.
Jaakonsaari sees the Union’s bigger and richer countries, such as Germany and France, as a wolf pack that wants to eat the smaller and not so well balanced countries, financially speaking.
– Politics is the anti-force in this juxtapositioning.
However, Jaakonsaari is not completely satisfied with how this anti-force works at the moment.
– It is true that the Union develops through crisis as one of the founding fathers, Robert Schuman, said but the leaders of today are not strong enough. People need to be told how things should be done.
Jaakonsaari ads that the full consequences of the financial crisis are still somewhat unclear. Mutually agreed financial strategies have failed and the only thing possible is to create means and procedures to prevent same kind of scenario of happening again.
– It migh even be that because of all this, the golden era of the European Union is already behind us. The countries that need help, show that a cohesive economic zone is really difficult to maintain.
The problems and their unwanted effects cause the popularity of EU-critical political parties to grow. This has happened in many countries throughout Europe, especially in Sweden andFinland. The recent Finnish parliamentary vote went into news all around the EU because of the huge growth of the EU- and immigration critical True Finns party. Eventually the party didn’t join the government even though it had become the third largest political party in Finland. The spokesman of the True Finns, Timo Soini, commented that the decision to stay out was made because of the promises made to voters about not joining a government that supports financial aid for example in the case of Portugal.
Jaakonsaari says that she gives the party credit for their success but very little on a political level. She feels that the stepping down from negotiations about forming the new government didn’t have that much to do with staying out but having to stay out.
– Finland is tightly knit into the EU and for an EU-critical party it would be impossible to work in a pro-EU government. Soini made a wise populist move.
The next presidential election is not so much a test for the popularity of True Finns but the municipal election even more so. It remains to be seen what is the future of EU-critical parties in all of Europe.
NATO or Euroforce?
Europe has stayed fairly untouched by the wave of uprisals and revolutions that have been roaming the Middle East and North Africa. However, recently Spain and Greece have faced similar situations that started it all for example in Egypt. EU hasn’t taken part in military operations in the Middle East except indirectly under NATO.
During the whole existence of the EU, talks have been on and off about a “Euroforce”. This means a single unified and independent military force that would cover the whole EU. NATO already operates as a peace keeping force all over Europe and often in the Middle East also. In addition there is Eurocorps formed by the West Europian Union, EUFOR that stands for a temporary peace keeping force operating under NATO command and the Battle Group of the EU, a sort of rapid response unit.
Taking all this into consideration it is pretty easy to question if all is really necessary. Wouldn’t a unified European military organization working closely with NATO, or even these two combined, be the optimal resolution?
– There are discussions about Euroforce regularly but I just can’t see it ever happening. Member States are wasting a lot of money in weapons systems that are already outdated and they are really not that eager to turn over their whole armies under mutual command.
Jaakonsaari sees that more than anything the military forces operating in Europe are nowadays needed for natural disasters and humanitarian work. Earthquakes, human trafficking and piracy are much more eminent problems than actual armed conflicts between two European countries and for these needs the system works as it is.
From a Finnish point of view this is especially interesting since the question of whether to join NATO or not, has been on the table forever. Jaakonsaari admits that she is absolutely pro-NATO.
– It just seems that the nation still doesn’t want the official adjoinment. This is the kind of thing that needs a national referendum and I think that is mainly the reason why the only thing Finland doesn’t participate in NATO is the decision-making.
Why do the opinion polls repeatedly express that the majority of Finns wouldn’t accept NATO-membership? Jaakonsaari admits that this has a lot to do with the old but timely subject of Finnish fear of Russia. Since the peace treaty between Finland and Soviet Union in the Second World War the eastern neighbour had a tight grasp on Finland on every level. Throughout the cold war things were done in Finland pretty much inside the frames of Russian approval. Even though the chance of a military conflict is remote and even fairly unrealistic, Finland has enough trade with Russia to be worried about its future.
– Some say facism is raising its head, others state that Russia will be the new financial super climber. Any way you look at it the whole Europe should be prepared for different kinds of future Russias.
Future EU
As we have seen, holding a union the size of Europe together, is not an easy task. Jaakonsaari says that efforts are great, however not yet enough.
– The EU has to tighten up a lot which means steps towards federation. Measures have to be taken to prevent future catastrophes and to keep the Union together and working. For example we need to stop indebtedness and develop the supervision of international banks.
Baring in mind all the existing problems but also the recent troubling developments in the Middle East, I ask Jaakonsaari what she would name as the biggest threat to EU. The answer is crystallizing and blunt.
– Itself.
Jarno Väistö
Come on Europe! 