Speech by the President of the Portuguese Republic at the Banquet given in his honour by the President of the Republic of Finland

Helsinki
09 de Outubro de 2002


Madam President
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am extremely honoured and pleased to be the first Portuguese Head of State to pay an official visit to Finland. I would like to thank you, Madam President, for your warm words of welcome and for the touching marks of sympathy and friendship you have shown me.

Your election as President of the Republic – you are the first woman in the history of Finland to occupy this office – crowned a long career dedicated to serving your compatriots and the Finnish state, initially in the student and union movements and then in politics, where you held a number of positions, in municipal life, in Parliament and in the government. In the performance of these duties you have always been distinctive for the warmth with which you approach each issue, for your impartiality, balance and commonsense in analysing them and for the simplicity and practical sense you use in resolving them. This has won you the trust, admiration and sympathy of your compatriots and of all those in Europe and the world who dealt with you when you were Foreign Minister. Please accept on this occasion my tribute of sincerest esteem.

Finland is a friend, a partner and an ally in the European Union, a nation of solid political and moral principles, firmly attached to the values of democracy and human rights, a successful example of the European development model, whose modern economy has a strong technological slant. It is a country that inspires respect, curiosity and admiration and one with which Portugal wishes to have close and privileged ties.

I hope with this visit to provide the Portuguese with an opportunity to find out a little more about Finland and to give you a better idea of what Portugal has to offer: not only the beaches and golf courses so many of you already know, but our technological firms, the quality and variety of our products, the richness of our language and of our literary and artistic heritage.

Despite the distance between us, we have several affinities in the bilateral plane, which I would like to enhance. We are both small open economies whose prosperity comes from outside. Our relations have been close ever since the early 60s when both our countries joined EFTA. The ten-year gap between Portugal and Finland joining the European Union slowed the rate at which our contacts were developing. Now that we share the same currency and the same market, all the conditions are met to increase our commercial exchanges and reciprocal investments, taking advantage of the high degree of complementarity between our economies.
That is why my party includes a representative selection of Portuguese businessmen from many areas, ranging from tourism to telecommunications.

We would also gain from closer ties in the cultural area. One of my on-going aims is to increase people’s knowledge of the Portuguese language, which is spoken worldwide by over two hundred million people, and of the great literary output of Portuguese-speaking countries. Tomorrow I will donate a collection of Portuguese classics to the University of Helsinki, in the hope of encouraging and extending the interest raised by the publication of the Finnish translations of works by Fernando Pessoa and José Saramago. I will also be opening an exhibition of contemporary Portuguese design in order to show, in the land of Alvar Aalto, some of Portugal’s output in this area. I know that next year there are plans for an exhibition of Finnish design in Portugal. In other areas, too, such as cinema or music, initiatives are in hand that will no doubt help our peoples to deepen their reciprocal knowledge.
Within the scope of the European Union our viewpoints are very close, namely as regards the process of institutional reform. We share a core concern over safeguarding the principle of equality between States. We believe in the Community method to promote integration and we both wish to have a strong Commission. We are in favour of incorporating the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the treaties and we both hope that a constitutional-type document may come out of the forthcoming revision of the treaties.

From the very first moment Finland and Portugal firmly supported enlargement. It will be an historic moment for Europe, representing the reunification of our continent round shared values and a common project. We consider that this reunification is a decisive step towards strengthening stability in Europe and increasing its influence in the world. I also believe this is a unique opportunity to relaunch Europe’s economic growth, reasserting the values of economic and social cohesion that, now more than ever, should constitute the Union’s key objective.

Even when enlarged to all the countries that are currently candidates, the European Union will not encompass the whole of Europe. Our priority, on the external plane, must continue to be to consolidate the rule of law throughout the continent, with stable democratic regimes enjoying market economies and an efficient legal system that fights crime while respecting human rights. I am thinking first of all of Russia, without forgetting Ukraine and the states of former Yugoslavia, where the transition process is still strewn with difficulties.

On the world stage we both defend the values of peace, respect for international law, and defence of human rights. We consider that the United Nations should play a key role in the resolution of international conflicts. We believe that the world’s road to progress can only be found through multilateral channels. The international community needs to find more effective ways of governing globalisation to reduce poverty, preserve the environment, combat disease and fight crime. I believe that the European Union has a crucial role to play in these matters.

Finland and Portugal are also committed to bilateral co-operation with poorer, more vulnerable countries. Portugal, of course, has privileged relations of co-operation with Portuguese-speaking countries to which it is linked by centuries of shared history. We are therefore particularly pleased with Finland’s decision to elect Mozambique, which you visited recently, as one of its privileged co-operation partners. Nor do we forget Finland’s unfailing support, in which you, Madam President, played an active and committed role, to the Timorese cause, which we can justly proclaim as a triumph of the international community over oppression and injustice.

All this brings us closer together, cements our friendship and opens new prospects for co-operation. These, then, are the bases for a healthy, profitable and enduring relationship between Finland and Portugal. What we must do now is to build on these bases. This is what I hope for, this is what has brought me here. Once again thank you Madam President and dear friend, for this well-timed invitation to visit your country. I will end now by making a toast to your health, to the prosperity of the Finnish people, and to the future of the Luso-Finnish friendship!