Translation

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC MARTTI AHTISAARI
AT A BANQUET HOSTED BY PRESIDENT KONSTANTINOS STEPHANOPOULOS
OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC IN ATHENS ON 14.9.1998

I extend my warmest thanks to you, Mr. President, for the kind wishes of welcome that you have expressed to my wife and myself as well as to our party. I am also grateful for the sentiments and words that you have addressed to my country.

My wife and I are delighted to have this opportunity to reciprocate for your visit to Finland in autumn 1996. It is wonderful to be able to see Greece and become acquainted with her everyday life, economy and culture, as well as to experience the presence of her exceptionally rich historical heritage.

Many ties bind Finland and Greece. We both live at the interface between East and West. Today, we are the easternmost members of the European Union and share a time zone, a little ahead of the others. We are small countries, but not invisible ones. We are also linked through the Orthodox religious tradition. The head of the Orthodox Church in Finland, Archbishop John - whom you, Mr. President met on your visit to our eastern city of Kuopio - is an influential voice in the ongoing Finnish discourse on values. Under his leadership, the Orthodox community in Finland is in constant contact with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of Greece. I believe that this increases mutual understanding and esteem between our countries.

Your country becomes familiar to all of us Finns already in the classroom when we study our history books, because Greece is the cradle of democracy. The system created in Athens two and a half millennia ago is now an ideal that we all share. The fundamental political and cultural values that we cherish Europeans embrace and cherish largely originated here. Today’s Finns know Greece as a hospitable and sunny holiday destination.

I have the honour to be the first incumbent of my office to make a state visit to Greece, just as you, Mr. President, were the first head of state of your country to visit Finland. There can be no denying the contribution that Finland’s membership of the EU has made to closer ties between our countries. Now both of us belong to the same family of states. In that family, all of us must know how the others think and act in order for our shared endeavours to succeed. By studying each other’s cultures and ideas, we constantly add to our learning and also gain a broader perspective on our own situation.

The intention is not, however, to melt into a homogeneous mass, but rather to draw strength from our distinctive national features so as to benefit all and thereby safeguard Europe’s future in the world. Even more importantly: the starting point is the citizen and his or her needs.

A radical transformation of the international community is continuing. The European Union must be strengthened, especially in view of the global challenges that will have to be mastered. The Union has already set the course for global environmental policy. At the same time as its means of wielding international influence are strengthened, we must make sure that it continues to be able to take care of our own continent’s problems.

The European security order must be further developed. Also here the EU will have to have a more central role. Transatlantic cooperation and a continuing US commitment to the security of our continent are important. Significant steps in the development of the European security order were taken during Greece’s Presidency of the WEU in the first half of this year. The OSCE and the Council of Europe are doing valuable work for stability and cooperation.

Enlargement of the European Union will increase the security of and promote the balanced development of our continent, thereby giving us a historic opportunity. The ending of the Cold War eliminated East-West military confrontation from Europe. The next round of EU enlargement will provide an opportunity to even out the economic and social differences that remain in Europe as a legacy of the Cold War. The pre-accession negotiations will be a demanding challenge for both existing and future members to deal with. Finland favours enlargement and is supporting the comprehensive process leading to it.

In step with enlargement, the EU will also have to develop its cooperation with the countries in its immediate environs. Finland has already made a contribution to promoting this kind of cooperation by presenting an initiative calling for the development of the EU’s northern dimension. Enlargement highlights the strategic importance of the northern regions of Europe. The economic interdependence that is one of the premises underlying the initiative will increase political stability, especially with respect to Europe’s energy supply.

The positive attitude that Greece has adopted to our initiative has delighted me. The project will have a concrete significance for your country when transport and energy networks begin to be developed within the framework of the initiative. That will also bring the Black Sea dimension into focus, and it is our hope that the project will mean a revival of the historical trade routes between northern Europe and Byzantium.

For Finland EU membership has meant a new starting point in the examination of questions concerning our continent. In Finland as elsewhere, we are more clearly aware than formerly that our country’s development and wellbeing do not depend solely on circumstances in our immediate environs, but rather that there is a close linkage between them and development in the whole of Europe. Membership of the EU has also made Mediterranean policy a field of work that is important for us. As one indication of that, we arranged, in association with the Barcelona Process, a conference of environment ministers from the Mediterranean region in Helsinki last autumn. Finland intends to continue to play an active role in this cooperation, to which so much importance is attached, between the EU and the other Mediterranean states.

I have been following the situation in Kosovo with concern. The region is close to Greece and you have already had to experience the problems of refugee flows from there. The international community must step up its efforts to break the cycle of violence and get negotiations under way.

Greece has been active in efforts to promote cooperation in the region, for example through her work in the Royamont Group. We must together strive to ensure that this cooperation leads to concrete results.

Greece is the birthplace of the world’s foremost sporting event - the Olympic Games. In the year 2004 the contests will have an extra aura of distinction when they return to their roots and the venue is Athens. I congratulate you on this great achievement and wish you success. We Finns are bidding to host the Winter Olympics in 2006. Your determined and convincing campaign is an example for us as we strive for this goal.

Finland will hold the Presidency of the European Union for the latter half of 1999. Thus responsibility for ushering the Union into the new millennium will be ours. For the first twelve months of that millennium, Helsinki will have the honour to continue a tradition begun by your own distinguished Melina Mercouri when it serves as one of the nine European Cities of Culture for the year 2000.

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Ladies and Gentlemen ,I wish to propose a toast to the good fortune and success of the Hellenic Republic, to the further development of Greek-Finnish relations and to your health, Mr. President.