SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC TO THE OUTGOING GOVERNMENT AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN HELSINKI ON 13.4.1995

It is valuable when Governments in this country sit their full term. The Government now leaving office has made its contribution to strengthening this recent parliamentary practice.

The tone of the past four years was set by economic difficulties and large-scale unemployment as well as by Finland's accession to the European Union.

The Government succeeded in breaking the spiral of economic crisis.

Arranging relations with the European Union took the entire parliamentary term. The Government deserves special thanks for having been able to make the requisite decisions in time.

In Finland's immediate environs, a historic change took place with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the re-attainment by the Baltic states of independence. It was important that the Government acted without delay to put our relations with the newly-independent Baltic states and the new Russia on a stable basis.

Significant changes took place in the recent general election. As a result, a Government with a new base is coming into being in the country.

I thank the Government as a whole and specifically the Prime Minister and every member for the responsible work that they have done well for the good of the nation. I wish to convey the nation's special thanks to Minister for Foreign Affairs Heikki Haavisto, who had to resign owing to illness.

I wish all of you happiness and success.