PES activists interview: Eero Heinäluoma, July 2006
This month you can pose your questions on the Finish Presidency starting on July 1st to Finland's Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma. What are the finish priorities on the EU agenda?
Join PES activists! Ask your questions to top European politicians.
Katherina: Dear Eero, the Finish presidency will start soon. What do you personally hope will be the greatest achievement of your presidency?
Eero Heinäluoma: I hope that the Finnish Presidency will be remembered from restore confidence of the citizens to the European project. This will be achieved through concrete results, such as reaching a new consensus on enlargement, raising the EU-Russia relations to the new strategic level and strengthening European competitiveness by investing in research and innovation. All this the Finnish Presidency will do with efficiency and openness.
Aleksander: Dear comrade, do you recon that the budget of 1,045% GDP is sufficient to implement all the objectives assigned to the European Union? Isn’t it an immense hypocrisy to proclaim highly ambitions European political targets and to deny afterwards the funds to realise them? Aren’t you afraid that this might feed into people’s disaffection – and this is an euphemism – for the European project?
Eero Heinäluoma: The result achieved in last December by the European leaders was not optimal but the best we could achieve. Now the challenge is how to make the most of it. We also decided to undertake a mid-term review of the EU budget in 2008/2009. This should be a serious exercise where we need to take a fresh look at the struc-ture of the EU budget including its institutions and policies in order to strengthen the functioning capacity of the Union. We need to find ways to quarantee the security and well-being of our citizens, and we need new re-sources for this.
Amelia: Scientific research and knowledge have a key influence in our european society and economy.
Finland has implemented in the last years an interesting policy of Research and Development (R+D). Together with Sweden you have reached the Lisbon strategy with an investment in R+D of 3-3.5%. However, most countries in EU are very far from this goal. Is R+D one of the priorities for the Finland presidency? How do you think that EU can potentiate our R+D system? The European Reserch Council (ERC) will start very soon. How do you think that ERC must help to develop an stronger R+D european system?.
Eero Heinäluoma: We need to enhance the European competitiveness, that is, to focus on growth and jobs. Research and innova-tion is a key to achieve this aim. The EU is currently exploring how to create innovation-friendly markets where we can launch new products and services. All the EU member states need to invest more to research and de-velopment. Finland is committed to continue its engagement and has set even more ambitious targets, to reach 4% by 2010.
Edgar: I would like to now if the European budget spends more in social programmes or in military programmes. I do often get the impression that the EU has become more a military alliance than a confederation promoting the social welfare of its citizens.
Eero Heinäluoma: The European Union is about peace, security, prosperity, democracy and human rights. It is not a military alli-ance, even if it has taken more responsibility in international crises management in countries like the Western Balkans. But the primary project of the Union, as also reflected in its budget structure, is civilian and about the welfare of its citizens.
Edgar: Have you ever asked yourself why the economic gap between the rich and the poor is increasing in Europe? I think that it is also the fault of the single European market which leads to a competition of states. Doesn't Europe needs mechanisms that prevent the erosion of our standards of living? Why don't the European countries agree to tax more the rich and the multinationals?
Eero Heinäluoma: The European project aims at extending the economic welfare and prosperity to all Europeans in all corners of the Union. The EU uses Cohesion and Structural Funds to narrow the gap between different countries and re-gions. Actually, in new member states there is more growth potential and dynamism, and they are moving fast to reach the level of old member states. This potential and dynamism benefits us all.
Eva: Dear comrade, the French and the Dutch have decided to vote against the constitution and a lot of coutries have postponed the referendum because they wouldn't get a "yes" anyway. I don't see how the constitution could be approved in all these countries. Why is Finland ratifying the Constitution when there is no hope of it being adopted in its current form?
Eero Heinäluoma: Finland used the reflection period efficiently. The Parliament and the Government reached the same conclusion and decided to ratify the Treaty. The Consitutional Treaty was agreed and signed by all EU member states. It is now for each and every one of them to give their own answer about its ratification. It is their right, if not even duty.
Kris: Dear Eero, What actions will be foreseen against the blocking situation after the ratification stop of the EU constitution? Isn't it dangerous to wait untill the second half of 2007 before proposing a solution to this problem.
As Finland is a 'smaller' EU-country, and I've seen by experience that solutions proposed by 'smaller' countries are easier accepted by the 'big' ones, a proposal might not be seen as a provocation or rivalry.
Eero Heinäluoma: The European Council mandated the future Presidencies to take the process forward. Last year was marked as a year of reflection. Now we should focus on delivering concrete results and implementing projects. We can do a lot by using the possibilities under the existing EU treaties. Next year the German Presidency will also present a report to the European Council assessing the state of discussions with regard to the Constitutional Treaty and exploring possible future developments. Finland will start this work and discussions under its term.
Adam: Here in the Netherlands a lot of people are quite sceptical about the European project. They think that it is too far away from ordinary people. How will you try to restore confidence in the EU?
Eero Heinäluoma: As I have said earlier, we need to focus on concrete results and projects which will benefit all Europeans. We need to carefully listen to the concerns of European citizens. We also need to be able to explain the European decisions better and not hide behind any EU-jargon. The decisions should be taken on national level if that is the most efficient way of getting results. We need to regulate better and get rid of any kind of ridiculous direc-tives.
Jan: I appreciate very much that the PES has started the PES activists giving the members of national parties a possibility of getting involved into European politics. I however have the feeling that the EU is far away from the people and it is very hard to get information about the daily EU agenda. What can social democrats do to make the EU more democratic?
Eero Heinäluoma: I hope that the Finnish Presidency will also be remembered for bringing the EU closer to the citizens. Here all the Europeans and national politician have a role to play. I think that the message is received better if it is com-municated by familiar faces in own language. The European project is our common project and we all need to pass this message on. We need to tell about the decisions taken in Brussels and how these decisions affect people's every day lives.
