Translation
PRESENTATION BY PRESIDENT OF THE
REPUBLIC MARTTI AHTISAARI
AT THE "TACITO VOLENTE - FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE
BALTIC AS TACITUS WILLED IT" SEMINAR
IN TALLINN ON 12.11.1998
"THE POSITION OF FINLAND AND ESTONIA IN
TODAYS EUROPE"
To begin with, let me express my pleasure at
being able to come here to beautiful Tallinn once again and bring
my greetings to this seminar.
It is with great pleasure that we have been following
developments in Estonia, this neighbour so dear to us, and the
success that the efforts of our kindred people have yielded fills
us with pride.
Only now, with the Cold War behind us and Europe in the process
of unifying, is the relationship between Finland and Estonia
finding its true significance. In that sense, the task of this
seminar is fascinating.
We shall not forget history, but let us look ahead.
The historical link between Estonia and Finland bore fruit when
Estonia launched her effort to gain membership of the European
Union. Now we understand the importance of the links maintained,
in difficult circumstances, between our citizens during the
Soviet Era.
Thanks to Estonias open economy, Finland and Estonia are
virtually a single market. Finnish investment has remained at a
high level and we are now coming to the point where the
managements of more and more companies are completely Estonian.
The learning process has advanced at a dizzying speed.
Political contacts have reached a level that increasingly
resembles our relations with the Scandinavian countries. The need
to keep in touch is obvious and will only increase in the future.
It is essential for both of us to know what is being thought and
said on the other side of the Gulf of Finland. It has been easy
for us to coordinate our views; after all, our national interests
run very much parallel to each other.
Nevertheless, it is contacts between people that are the basis
for everything. Ties of friendship across the Gulf of Finland
have increased and diversified.
Now that visas are no longer required, travel has become
decisively easier.
The abolition of the visa requirement meant more for relations
between our countries than we probably grasped at the time. Many
saw it as a legislative decision, but in fact there was much more
involved. For Finns, freedom to travel had been a self-evident
right for so long, whereas for Estonians it was a privilege of
the few. Visa-free travel also has a symbolic significance. Based
on our experience of it, we Finns have only positive things to
say. This has not gone unnoticed in the European Union.
Estonian membership of the EU is a Finnish goal. One of the means
by which this goal is being supported is our cooperation with
other countries in our immediate region. The main areas of
emphasis in this cooperation have been the environment and
agriculture, but now there is beginning to be a clearer
concentration also on preparations for EU membership. Finland
hopes that pre-accession negotiations can soon commence also with
Latvia and Lithuania. The Commissions latest progress
report is very encouraging in this respect.
The EU is politically committed to enlargement. Negotiations have
now commenced. Finland pledges to work for undisturbed progress
in taking the enlargement process forward.
The European Union must be a community of citizens. At the same
time, its institutions must concentrate solely on the tasks
entrusted to them. The EU will ensure that the vitality of member
states strengthens. It is of paramount importance that the member
states internal discourse on the EU is as thorough as
possible prior to accession. Citizens must know what membership
will really mean, both in terms of its impact on taxpayers
and consumers pockets and on the governmental and political
level.
The Baltic Sea has for centuries of history been a factor that
both separates and unites. The present decade has also seen a
change in the way in which security is discussed in the Baltic
Sea region.
Through EU membership, Finlands position was clarified and
strengthened. The advent of the euro will ultimately make the EU
a community that guarantees economic and political stability and
has a global role. Its development is a major challenge.
After the Soviet Union had disintegrated and the independence of
the Baltic States had been reinstated, the security situation
began to be discussed there on a tabula rasa basis.
A credible national defensive capability is one of the pillars of
sovereignty. Developing your defence forces is a major challenge.
Officers trained in Finland have been able to help in this work.
Finland has been very satisfied with the results of our
cooperation in the sector of defence.
Finland and Estonia are active participants in so-called Baltsea
cooperation, the purpose of which is to coordinate the assistance
in the defence sector that the Baltic States are receiving.
Finland and Sweden are interested in the stability of the Baltic
States. The region must not be dealt with as a separate entity in
European security policy. It was on this basis that our shared
initiatives for confidence-building measures in the Baltic Sea
region were conceived. We have noticed that our views are
respected.
It is impossible to talk of the Baltic Sea region without
mentioning our common neighbour Russia. The crisis in that
country is deep. There are no civil societies there, or else they
are very weak. Yet economic interaction between the country and
the rest of the world is essential. Russian will gain nothing by
isolating herself. With the aid of its natural riches and
educated people, the country can alter the course of its economic
development.
From the perspective of Finland and Europe, it is important that
Russia is assessing the Soviet Era honestly. President
Yeltsins clear statement that the Soviet Union acted
wrongly in attacking Finland in autumn 1939 strengthened the
foundation of relations between Finland and Russia. Russias
and Yeltsins role was central when the Baltic States
re-attained their independence as the Soviet Union was
disintegrating. With a view to increasing cooperation, it would
be important for Russia to extend its assessment of the errors of
the Soviet Era also to the Baltic States.
Enlargement of the European Union is the surest guarantee of
growth in trade between Russia and her neighbours. Besides that,
mutual dependence will increase as a consequence of new
challenges to security.
In this context I would like to recall the vision of a Nordic
Dimension that I outlined at Tartu University in 1994. It is now
becoming a European Union policy. The initiative is founded on
the EUs basic principles, i.e. the maintenance of peace and
stability through economic cooperation and mutual dependence. I
believe the initiative will have an all-round positive effect on
the development of both our region and the whole of Europe.
Positive development in Estonias, Latvias and
Lithuanias relations with Russia is important for the whole
of Europe. So far, only Russia and Lithuania have signed a border
treaty, and it is still to be ratified by the Duma. We hope that
Estonias and Latvias border treaties will soon be
signed and brought into force. A border treaty is a basic
agreement between two sovereign neighbouring states and as such
important, although its absence is not, as we know, an obstacle
in negotiations for EU membership.
The situation of the Russophone segment of the population in,
especially, Estonia and Latvia has caused friction in these
countries relations with Russia from the very beginning.
Finland can only point to the statements made by the OSCE High
Commissioner on National Minorities Max van der Stoel and on the
basis of which solutions have been found for one problem after
the other. The latest example of this was the Latvian referendum,
which finally gave the seal of approval for a law concerning the
naturalisation of children. Similar legislation is now before the
Riigikogu in Estonia.
Finland has been following with satisfaction Estonias
actions to promote the integration of minorities, and we have
been especially pleased at your emphasis on children and young
adults. Integration is a matter for the next generation and
lasting development can not be expected without a reorganisation
of the school system. The preservation of childrens and
young adults own identity and their social wellbeing must
be taken care of. Well-balanced young people grow into
well-balanced citizens.
History has separated Finland and Estonia; the new development in
Europe is bringing us together. Small states have risen to a
status of equality among the big ones of the continent. No longer
does anyone dictate the destinies of others. Common structures
guarantee legality and fairness. It is for this kind of Europe
that Finland and Estonia are working together around the same
table.
In the last century, the Fennophiles summed up their programme
thus: "Swedes we are not, Russians we do not wish to become,
let us therefore be Finns."
In the early years of the present century, the Estonian poet
Gustav Suits, who also worked in Finland for several years, went
a shade further in an international direction when he formulated
a goal for his own countrys intelligentsia: "Let us be
Estonians, but let us also become European." ["Olgem
eestlased, aga saagem ka eurooplasteks."]
Now, on the threshold of the twentyfirst century, we could set a
new goal: "Let us be Europeans, but let us remain also Finns
and Estonians."