Finnish Foreign Minister visit to the UK
20 Nov 2008
Foreign Secretary David Miliband met the Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on Thursday 20 November. After the meeting they took part in a joint press conference.| Speaker: | David Miliband and Alexander Stubb |
| Event: | Finish Foreign Minister visit to UK |
| Location: | Carlton Gardens |
Foreign Secretary David Miliband met the Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on Thursday 20 November. After the meeting they took part in a joint press conference. David Miliband opened the press conference. He said:
'Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen and all our distinguished diplomatic guests. Welcome to Carlton Gardens to those of you who have come from Finland, and above all welcome to my colleague and friend, the Foreign Minister, Alex Stubb.
Alex, since his appointment in the spring, has made an enormous contribution to the EU debate, not least through the central role he has played as Chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe during the Russia-Georgia crisis, and it brought fame public-wise, but privately the role he played there was really very, very important in containing the damage of that war on Europe's borders.
We have discussed this morning bilateral issues which are few in the number of problems, but rich in the extent of our links. It may be beyond the call of duty to spend Christmas in Solihull, but that is what the Foreign Minister will be doing at his wife's parents, his British wife's parents, but I think that we are working very, very closely together and that is a source of real strength I think to both of our countries but also to the EU more generally.
We have talked about EU issues in the light of the December European Council, the shared commitment we have to ensure that Europe maintains its leadership position on climate change issues, which I think is vital. We have talked also about the importance of the European Union maintaining its focus on the strong policy agenda and not getting diverted into an endless institutional debate for the Irish to sort out how they want to proceed on the Lisbon Treaty, but we are absolutely clear of the need for the European Union to focus on the big policy issues that matter, global policy issues, including climate change.
We have talked about the regional dimension, notably our relations with Russia where Finland has particularly good reason to offer an expert view. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will meet in Finland under Alex Stubb's chairmanship in the first week of December and this is quite a unique occasion for Europeans, for Americans and for Russians to sit round the same table and talk about how security in Europe can be taken forward in the wake of the Georgia crisis. So I will be in Helsinki for that meeting and I am looking forward to it.
We also talked about some of the pressing global issues and I discussed with Alex my trip to the Middle East. So this has been a really good session and I am grateful to him for coming and look forward to further dialogue and work together.
Alexander Stubb: Thanks David and thanks for the cooked breakfast. It is always refreshing to come to England and get a good dose of it.
Well as you can probably see, despite our tremendous age difference we get along quite well with David. Not only was I glad to tell about my Christmas in Solihull, but I have also invited David, to come to Finland with his family.
We had a good set of issues that we went through: preparations for the European Council, especially the energy, climate change agenda on which we have very similar views; we discussed the Lisbon Treaty, on which we have similar views, we discussed partial EU enlargement, on which we have similar views; we discussed foreign and security policy, on which we have similar views. So it is very difficult to find any differences in the positions that we take in general.
One of the observations that I made to David, and I have done already for a few months now, is that I firmly believe that the UK is back in the heart of Europe and it is back with a vengeance, and I mean a positive vengeance.
I think the two things that have shown the leadership that the UK has taken inside Europe in the past fewweeks: one is of course the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which I think was a strong signal about the commitment of the UK in Europe; and the second one was the way in which the British government has dealt with the financial crisis. If you have common problems you have to find common solutions, and in many ways I think the UK has shown leadership in this.
As a former MEP I have always said that sometimes there is quite a difference between I would say probably the rhetoric about, and the reality of, British EU engagement. In other words there is a tendency a lot of times to push the UK aside and say that this is an awkward member. I fundamentally disagree with that because if you look at the reality of the engagement that the UK has for instance in the internal market, the free movement of people, the free movement of goods, the free movement of services, the UK is a pro-European engaged country.
Also in my capacity as a member of the European Parliament I could see what true engagement means, and for me true engagement means that you have to work in the mainstream European political parties, such as the EP I guess in my case, or the socialist group in the case of David. If you marginalise yourself you simply do not have a voice, and what we are seeing with the current British government is one which has a voice and which is at the heart and leading edge of the debate.
So this was pretty much the gist of our discussions today and I am sure that we will be more than glad to take questions.
QUESTION (National Broadcasting Company, Finland) I have a question for the Foreign Secretary. Russia has proposed a new security agreement for Europe, what is your opinion about the proposal and what it actually could mean?
Foreign Secretary: Well I think it is very important that we do discuss security in Europe with our Russian counterparts. I think that it is fair to say that the proposal that has emerged is not a new one, those who have studied Russian policy for some years will recognise it from the '60s and also from the '70s. I think it is right to say from our perspective, security for the countries within the European Union has never been greater.
If you think back to certainly the first half or three-quarters of the 20th century it was dominated by the concerns for the territorial integrity and security of what are now members of the European Union and I think it is very hard now to see that security being violated. Obviously on our borders it is a rather different story, but I think we shouldn't talk ourselves into the position that we are proceeding from a position of unique insecurity, we are actually proceeding from a position of strong security.
If Russia wants to engage with the institutions of the European Union, in our case also engage with NATO so that there is a transatlantic dimension, then we welcome that dialogue. But the dialogue can only take place on the basis that we recognise that the strong institutions that have helped European countries over the last 30 or 40 years - the European Union, NATO, the OSCE - those institutions are a permanent part of the scene and a dialogue with Russia is not going to undermine those institutions. On that basis we can take the dialogue forward and I am looking forward to the debate at the Finnish-chaired meeting of the OSCE because I think the OSCE is a good platform to have these sort of discussions.
Question: As the situation gets worse off the coast of Somalia, what coordinated international action are governments taking to try to tighten security there for shipping?
FS: Well we are obviously extremely concerned by the situation in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, that is why Britain volunteered to be the headquarters for the European force that will be going there next month, the European Naval force which will be commanded from a British ship.
I think in respect of the immediate issues of the Sirius Star, I shouldn't comment on the individual case at this stage, it is obviously extremely delicate, but all of our hearts go out to all of those people who are now hostages on that ship, and obviously in our case especially for the two British hostages who have now been names whose families will be going through a wrenching hell of waiting. I think it is important that we assure them that we are fully engaged with all our partners on this issue, but there is a fundamental problem in the Gulf of Aden and that is why the deployment of the European force is I think the right thing to do and I think it is right that Britain embraces this aspect of European security and defence policy.
Question (MTV, Finland): I actually wanted to ask both Ministers, what about the Lisbon Treaty, how do you actually solve the Irish problem, are you any closer to solving the Irish problem?
AS: Well I spent the better part of yesterday in Dublin in three events, I talked to the university, then I had a meeting with Michael Martin, the Foreign Minister, and then I went to the Parliament to talk in front of the EU committee over there. Now I think there are no quick fix solutions on this, but what we probably need from the European Council in December is an engagement on when we try to get the Lisbon Treaty through.
My basic message is simple, we are not leaving the Irish alone here, no-one is pushing out Ireland or suggesting any ideas of a core Europe, we are in this boat together and I am sure we will find a solution. We must keep in mind that in treaty changes, with the Maastricht Treaty in '93 and then the Nice Treaty there have been so-called hiccups when member states have had problems to ratify for various reasons, and at the end of the day we will always find sound concrete solutions. So I am sure we will find one on this one as well. What it actually looks like I think is too early to say right now.
FS: I agree with that. It is very important that we respect the democratic wishes of the Irish people. We don't actually describe it as an Irish problem, I think that we have to refer to an Irish decision, and then there are consequences that the Irish government needs to lead in addressing, and I think we are coming to that from the same point of view. I think that the Irish government will be reporting to the December European Council and we should let them do so.
Question (Lucy Manning, ITV News): Foreign Secretary, there are reports coming out of Somalia of a ransom being asked for by the pirates. I wondered what the position on that was?
FS: Well obviously we are extremely concerned by the situation facing the 25 hostages and the 2 British hostages. It is very important that I don't comment on individual cases and individual negotiations, but you will know that there is a very strong view of the British government and actually the international community that payments for hostage-taking are only an encouragement to further hostage-taking and we will be approaching these issues in a very delicate way, in a way which tries to put the security and safety of British and other hostages to the fore. But I think that it is very important that the international community stands firm against the scourge of hostage- taking, whether it is on boats, whether it is on airlines or whether it is elsewhere.
Question (Reuters): A question for the Foreign Secretary. Could I ask your reaction to yesterday's IAEA reports on Iran and Syria, and also what are the main conclusions that you draw from your trip to the Middle East about the prospects for the peace process and bringing Syria back into the international fold?
FS: The proliferation of nuclear weapons is a huge threat to the whole world, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East is a particular danger given the conflicts that exist in that region. I had detailed talks in all of the places I visited - Jerusalem, Ramallah, Damascus and Beirut - about the importance of maintaining the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Countries have rights under the Non- Proliferation Treaty but they also have responsibilities. In the case of Iran it is very, very important that the whole world says clearly to Iran that it can have a civilian nuclear programme to deliver nuclear power, but not any programme which has the chance of leakage into a nuclear weapons programme.
The IAEA reported a very serious one, it shows that Iran continues to refuse to cooperate with this international agency, this independent international agency which is trying to pursue, rightly, the origins of the Iranian secret programme. We give our very strong support to the IAEA in continuing its work to ensure that the Iranian government realises that the IAEA will not go away and will not relent in asking its questions, neither will the UN Security Council relent in making very, very clear that while there is a hand of economic and cultural and scientific cooperation open to Iran, there will also be a sincere and serous sanctions programme if Iran refuses to abide by its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and its responsibilities in general.
In respect of the Syrian programme, I think it is very important that the Director General is able to continue the work that he has started and the studies that he is continuing. I think in respect of Syria more generally, I said quite a lot when I was in Damascus and in Beirut. I think there are big choices in 2009 for countries like our own, but also big choices for countries like Syria, and it is very important that they make choices that contribute to stability in the Middle East rather than undermine it.
Question (British Satellite News): Can I ask you how the Middle East trip went in general ... and the other things you talked about. And you are going to Pakistan soon, can you tell us what the focus of that visit is going to be about?
FS: Well I think that in all of my discussions in the Middle East I was reinforced in my view that only a comprehensive approach to the problems of the Middle East that addresses the core issue of Israeli insecurity and Palestinian lack of statehood, but also addresses the issues that divide Israel from the Arab world, has a chance of success.
It is very important that that comprehensive approach is taken forward from day one of the new administration, and 2009 is going to be a critical year with elections in Israel, elections in Lebanon, elections in Iran, and also big decisions about the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. From our point of view this is the number one priority for the world foreign policy in terms of the dangers to insecurity, for the dangers of security, and it is very important that Europeans play a full part in taking that forward.
I was "encouraged" by the fact that in part as a result of British and other European support Palestinian security forces are now providing security in Jenin and Hebron to the applause not just of the Palestinian people, not just of the Palestinian government, but also of the Israeli government and the Israeli Army and I think that is significant.
I am going to Pakistan next week. Pakistan is a very vital country for Britain, not least because of the 800,000 Britons of Pakistani origin. We want to support a democratic and thriving Pakistan. We have been very, very clear in our support for the new civilian government and we will continue to do so. I will be taking forward a political dialogue, an economic dialogue and also the cultural dialogue that we have with Pakistan. And all the friends of a democratic Pakistan should know that this is the time to rally in support of Pakistan as it takes forward its economic plans with the IMF.
