Latest posts
Upstairs, Downstairs and the European Union
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My speech today at the College of Europe in Natolin which deals with dividing lines in Europe. It is always great to visit College of Europe as I have myself studied at the Bruges campus and later acted as a visiting professor&nbs...
Cameron's speech
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Today, the British Prime Minister David Cameron gave his much awaited EU speech in London. The speech can be read from here. Expectations surrounding the speech were very high and it was labelled historic well in advance of its delivery. This is not...
Europe at crossroads - what kind of Europe do we want?
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Tässä tänään Berliinissä 2nd Berlin Foreign Policy Forum -tilaisuudessa pitämäni puhe. Speech - Check Against Delivery 2nd Berlin Foreign Policy Forum Körber Foundation Berlin, Germany 23 October 2012 Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a grea...
10 reasons to be optimistic
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1. ECB measures2. Dutch elections 3. Karlsruhe decision4. Banking Union5. Barroso speech on the State of the Union6. Van Rompuy report on the EMU7. MFF negotiations8. Ireland back on market9. Structural reforms in Member Stat...
Inaction is not an option – fixing the euro
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The Institute of International and European AffairsDublin, Ireland INACTION IS NOT AN OPTION – FIXING THE EURO Check Against Delivery Ladies and Gentlemen,Dear Friends, It is a great pleasure to be in Ireland and have the honour to speak at the In...
Finland and euro
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Parliament House, Annual Meeting of Finnish Heads of Mission 20 August 2012 (Check Against Delivery) Distinguished Ambassadors, It is once again a great pleasure to be in front of you. I would firstly like to thank you for the magnificent work you h...
"The European Union – from Crisis to Regeneration"
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Ohessa tänään Bryggen College of Europe -yliopistossa pitämäni puhe Euroopan unionin ja euroalueen tulevaisuudesta. Kaikki ajatukset puheesta tervetulleita. 17.11.2011, Bruges Honourable Rector, Dear professors and stude...
The European Union – from Crisis to Regeneration
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17.11.2011, Bruges Honourable Rector, Dear professors and students, Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends It is an honour to be given this chance to speak at the College of Europe in Bruges, my old school. This place gave me more than I b...
A day in Moldova
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A couple of hours’ flight right in the morning took me to my first visit to Moldova. On the plane, I spent time carefully studying my papers and preparing for the meetings together with a delegation of senior officials from the Ministry, Nina Vasku...
A year from the eruption of the Georgian war
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Last year I had to cut short my holiday by a couple of days but this year my fortnight's holiday will end in time, which means today. A short situation report is in order on the first anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war. A year has passed since the...
The Frankfurt Ironman Experience
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At home. Still high from finishing the Frankfurt Ironman on Sunday. Rewarding myself with a beer. I can still feel the race in my whole body...literally. I go over the experience once more. We get to Frankfurt on Friday. Christian Haep is there to gr...
Sommar i P1 och triathlon vid Kuusijärvi
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Idag har jag äran att delta i en svensk klassiker, Sommar i P1. Du kan lyssna på programmet som börjar 13.00 svensk tid. Repris på kvällen. Du hittar alla sommarpratarna på Sveriges radio, alltså deras hemsida. Jag fick många goda råd om hur...
Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation
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Today I met with my Nordic colleagues in Oslo. We discussed further development of Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation. The meeting received an independent report on the topic compiled by Thorvald Stoltenberg, former defence minister and f...
The genuine experience
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A month ago, I invited readers to drop me an email and let me know what they think about Finland. The request formed part of a column called “Branding Finland”, which I wrote for Finnair’s in-flight magazine, Blue Wings. Just a couple weeks aft...
Ten Theses on Europe
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I was delivering a speech in seminar “Vision for Finland’s EU Policy in the 2010s”. You will find the speech below. I would be happy to hear your comments about the theme! Seminar “Vision for Finland’s EU Policy in the 2010s”2 Februa...
Ahtisaari and Nobel Peace prize
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This is a historic day for Finland. Today all of us, each and every Finn, are surely proud and happy for President Ahtisaari.The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Ahtisaari is magnificent recognition for his life’s work in conflict solving and...
Back to Tbilisi (4)
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12.05 Landed in Tbilisi with the first two Military monitors. Our aim is to get the operation up and running. All OSCE members have been very generous in their pledges. Lots of APCs (armoured vehicles) and monitors in the pipeline. Our programme is...
Back to Tbilisi (4)
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12.05 Landed in Tbilisi with the first two Military monitors. Our aim is to get the operation up and running. All OSCE members have been very generous in their pledges. Lots of APCs (armoured vehicles) and monitors in the pipeline. Our programme is...
Back to Tbilisi (4)
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PSTRONG12.05 /STRONG/P PLanded in Tbilisi with the first two Military monitors. Our aim is to get the operation up and running. All OSCE members have been very generous in their pledges. Lots of APCs (armoured vehicles) and monitors in the pipeline./...
Decision on the monitors
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Great news! Our OSCE team in Vienna were able to broker a compromise. We will send in 20 military monitors to Georgia right away. An additional 80 will be sent as soon as possible. Thank you Aleksi Härkönen, Vesa Vasara and Mikko Kivikoski for a gr...
