5 October 2006
Tony Blair met his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen in Number 10 ahead of an informal summit later this month. Afterwards they spoke to journalists.
Read the press conference transcript
Prime Minister:
Good Morning everyone. First of all can I extend a very warm welcome to the Prime Minister of Finland here in Downing Street and say how pleased I am to see him here. Obviously he is the Prime Minister of Finland, but also the President of the European Union, and having handled the Presidency myself you have every sympathy. It is a very tough job to do and there are so many different interests that you have to put together. But we have obviously had an opportunity to go through various issues. First of all of course, and most properly, the forthcoming Lahti Summit which I look forward to and I congratulate the Finnish Presidency on the agenda they have got for that meeting.
We will obviously want to take forward the discussions that occurred at Hampton Court and this meeting gives us a chance to look at innovation policy and the importance of that for Europe’s economy for the future; migration, which is obviously a critical question; and of course energy policy. And as you may know, the G8 Plus Five meeting that has been happening out in Mexico on climate change is a very important indicator of the desire of the world now to come together and deal with the issue of energy and the environment and how we make sure there is sustainable growth in the future. And the fact that you have got a dialogue now that involves America and India and China, as well as the European countries, is obviously very important for the future. So that is good and it will give us a chance, this energy discussion, to talk about energy security and environmental issues too. And so I think for the Lahti Summit that discussion will happen as predicted. And then we have obviously been discussing other general issues as well to do with the Presidency and the challenges it has over the coming months.
But once again I would like to welcome you here and say how pleased I am to have you here and I wish you the best of luck with the Presidency. There are really difficult issues, but I think as ever Finland has shown itself extremely capable of dealing with them. So thank you.
Mr Matti Vanhanen:
Thank you Mr Prime Minister. I had a very good meeting, and as you talked we concentrated quite much about the coming Lahti meeting on 20 October. The meeting in Lahti follows the model of the successful informal meeting we had during the UK Presidency at Hampton Court, actually it was an example of it I took from your side.
Europe needs to be ambitious about innovation policy. This is crucial for our competitiveness innovation policies - the number one issue at the Lahti Summit. We need to focus on producing the right market environment that will encourage investments … and an effective innovation policy that not only encourages innovations but also turns them into products, successful companies and good jobs.
Energy policy will also be a major part at the Lahti Summit, especially its external dimension. It is important to make progress on our important energy objectives, such as security of supply, a level playing field with our external partners, and also fighting climate change. The Finnish Presidency has a special emphasis on developing an open energy dialogue with Russia. This will be a main theme during the dinner with the Russian President Mr Putin during the Lahti Summit.
Enlargement is a European success story. I think that it is fair to say that we both agree that the EU needs to keep its open doors policy. There can be no pause with enlargement. All candidates must be fairly treated. The Finnish Presidency will organise a general discussion on enlargement at the December European Council. We agreed that it is important that this does not start a life of its own as a new criterion for enlargement. I hope that this debate will strengthen the consensus on enlargement.
The status of Kosovo is an important item this autumn also. We need to give all possible support to the efforts of the UN to find a solution and I am confident that the former Finish President Ahtisaari propose a solution soon.
Question:
A quick question about Afghanistan. The United Nations said yesterday that 90,000 people had been displaced by the fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces. How concerned are you by the humanitarian cost of the war there? And the second part is, what is the worry about the inability of NATO countries to reinforce the efforts there?
Prime Minister:
Well first of all I would like to thank Finland for the contribution it is making in Afghanistan. And we should always remember this is a NATO mission, it is backed with the United Nations resolution, and the mission is there for a very simple reason. We do not want the Taleban and al Qaeda back in charge of Afghanistan, using it as a training ground for terrorism throughout the world. What we want is what the Afghan people want, which is Afghanistan to be allowed to run its own affairs, elect its government by a proper democracy and have a tolerant and open society. Now that is what the majority of Afghans want, we have got to be on their side helping them get it, because this is of enormous importance, not just to the people of Afghanistan, but to the wider global security. And I think sometimes it is important for us just to go back to the reason we are there. You know we went into Afghanistan after September 11 when 3,000 people were killed on the streets of New York by people who were trained in Afghanistan when it was run by the Taleban and al Qaeda, there were many British people who died on the streets of New York at the same time, and this mission is absolutely critical for global security. And of course there are people in Afghanistan who are suffering as a result of the fighting that is taking place, but they suffered a great deal more in the days when the Taleban and al Qaeda were running Afghanistan, where there was no proper economic development and where people you know could be shot for trying to teach girls in school. Now I think just occasionally we should go back and remind ourselves of this. But I would like to pay tribute to the work that Finland is doing in Afghanistan up in the north, I think, of the country and it is important we keep the NATO mission going.
Question:
A question connected to this one. In what direction would you like to develop NATO’s policy for peace programme? Should countries like Finland have a bigger role in NATO’s operations, like the one in Afghanistan?
Prime Minister:
Well I think it is always for each individual member of NATO to decide how they contribute, but Finland has played an important part in Afghanistan and elsewhere in NATO Missions, and I think even after the end of the Cold War there is a real role for NATO. What will happen in today’s world increasingly is that the armed forces of most countries, like Britain, or Finland or indeed other European countries, will usually be in collective missions working alongside other nations. And because of the way the world is today and because of this global terrorist threat, it is important that we have the capability and also the political will to be able to go into places like Afghanistan and sort the situation out and make sure that we are standing alongside the decent majority, it is a Muslim country, the vast majority of the people in Afghanistan want to elect their government, want an open tolerant society, want the economic growth that thankfully is able to happen in Afghanistan today and we have just got to be alongside people supporting them in that and of course Finland has got a very important role to play.
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