After 25 Years of Common EU Membership - Working Together for a Greener European Future OPENING WORDS

After 25 years of Common EU Membership - Working Together for a Greener European Future OPENING WORDS

Gunvor Kronman, CEO, Hanaholmen – Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It’s my great pleasure to wish you all warmly welcome to this seminar celebrating the 25th anniversary of Austrian, Finnish and Swedish EU-membership.

Hanaholmen is an institution where normally two countries, Sweden and Finland, are brought together to create added value from co-operation in the fields of culture, society and business. Today, we In the early membership phase, the Lisbon are honoured and delighted to include Strategy set as aim to make the EU the Austria as partner in our programme. most competitive and dynamic knowl- edge-based economy in the world by 2010. We had a genuine challenge, when deter- It was succeeded by the Europe 2020 strat- mining the topic of the seminar, which egy, an agenda for growth and jobs for the included a multitude of candidates, among next decade, emphasizing smart, sustain- others: able and inclusive growth. In December • the future of multilateral 2019, the European Commission presented co-operation the European Green Deal for making the • reflections on EU negoti- EU’s economy sustainable by turning ations and membership climate and environmental challenges into from key EU-profiles opportunities. • the successes and challenges of free mobility The programme is the result of fruitful co-op- • effects on border-regions eration between the Austrian Embassy, from EU-membership the Swedish Embassy, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Institute for It was clear that we wanted to have a strong International Affairs and Hanaholmen – the focus on the future of the EU, so in the end, Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre. it was easy to finally agree to focus on the European Green Deal. Warm thanks to our partners and speakers. I also want to express my appreciation to It is often said that EU-integration moves Marika Krook and Maija Weitz for adding a forward through the management of acute cultural dimension by performing songs by crises. That may be the case, but one cannot Jean Sibelius, Ralf Gothoni, Ture Rangström neglect the importance of comprehensive and Robert Stolz. strategic visions defined at the EU level.

2 PROGRAMME Marika Krook, well-known classical singer and musical star, and Maija Weitz, pianist with an international concert activity in the field of chamber music and lied accompaniment, performed songs by Jean Sibelius, Ralf Gothoni, Ture Rangström and Robert Stolz.

Moderator: Juha Jokela, Programme Director, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

10.00 Opening Words • Gunvor Kronman, CEO, Hanaholmen - Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre

10.03 High-level Introductory session with Video Messages from: • Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Austria • Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering, Finland • Hans Dahlgren, Minister for EU Affairs, Sweden

Jean Sibelius: Demanten på marssnön Ralf Gothoni, arr.: Finnish folk song “Minun kultani kaunis on”

10.20 Keynote Session: Perspectives on the Green Deal from Austria, Finland and Sweden • Georg Rebernig, Managing Director, Austrian Umweltbundesamt • Mari Pantsar, Director, Carbon Neutral Circular Economy, The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra • Nina Ekelund, Executive Director, Haga Initiative

Wrap-up of the keynote presentations • Marco Siddi, Senior Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Robert Stolz: Jadja´s song “Fern im schönen Polenland”

11.10 Concluding Conversation on the Future of the EU and the Green Deal • H.E. Maximilian Hennig, Ambassador to Finland, Austria • H.E. Nicola Clase, Ambassador to Finland, Sweden • Jan Wahlberg, Ambassador for Climate Change, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland

Ture Rangström: Den enda stunden

See the recording of the event: https://www.hanaholmen.fi/sv/hanasaari-tv/25-years-of-common-eu-membership/

3 HIGH-LEVEL INTRODUCTORY SESSION

Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Austria

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am more than happy to participate in this event to the common EU Membership of Finland and Austria today. Even if only virtu- ally in these difficult times of crises, I think it is very important to highlight our common 25th anniversary in the European Union.

Looking back 25 years, not only Austria changed but also the European Union and the whole world. Within EU, we are need to be discussed within the EU to now more politically and economically develop it further. One example are the intertwined. Western Balkans. The EU is not complete until the Western Balkans joined the EU In 1989 the Austrian Government applied with the so-called „Letter to Brussels“ for the This year which marks our 25th anniver- membership in the European Economic sary has also been overlaid by the COVID Community at that time. 19 crisis. This pandemic has shown the strength and weaknesses and the need for It was a historical moment, when on June more resilience within the European Union. 12th 1994 66.6 percent of Austrian citizens voted in favour of the EU membership. I We need to draw lessons from this crisis to remember the time when Austria joined look forward and to overcome future crises. the European Union. Back then I lived in my It is crucial to respond in time to new devel- hometown in Salzburg in the border region opments in an ever more complex world. to Germany. This is why I actively advocate for the start of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Austria held the EU Council Presidency 3 The crisis has also shown us that people times, most recently from July to December expect more from the European Union. I 2018 with the motto „A Europe, that am convinced we can draw lessons from protects“. The main focus laid on secu- this crisis and make use of them for the rity and the fight against illegal migration, better for the future of the European Union. securing prosperity and competitiveness through digitalisation and stability in the Thank you! European neighbourhood.

It is not only our anniversary that links Austria and Finland. At EU level we share common positions and common issues in many fields such as rule of law, and EU budget. There are still many topics that

4 Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering, Finland

Greetings to you all,

It is an honour to greet you via this video message. For a quarter of a century, EU membership has brought Finland, Sweden and Austria wellbeing, peace and stability.

The world looked very different in 1995 when we joined the EU. So did the European Union. The world around us has become increasingly complex and unpredictable. At the same time, the EU has grown larger and more ambitious. However, the leitmo- tiv of the EU remains the same: Together the devastating effects of the pandemic. we are stronger. Together we can make a On the contrary, we have come together difference. to agree a historic, exceptional Recovery Package that will help us to enhance our For small, export driven countries, going competitiveness and move towards more alone is not an option. At the same time, the sustainable economies. EU is much more than a common market. It is a community of values and, especially Building a stronger, deeper and fairer Single for Finland EU is a security community. Market is close to the Finnish, Swedish and Austrian hearts. For us, ensuring an open This year has been exceptional. It has been economy and promoting a level play- the year of the pandemic. While our focus ing field – both internally and globally – is is still on crisis response and recovery, we key. At a time when protectionism is rais- also need to look ahead and work towards ing its head, the EU’s role as a defender of a more resilient and competitive EU. Here, free trade is ever more important. Strategic Finland, Sweden and Austria have much in autonomy should not be about building common. walls and barriers. Instead, it should be about improving our competitiveness and EU’s common values are the bedrock of investing in innovation, to ensure that the resilience. I am delighted on our close coop- EU remains an attractive trading partner eration with Sweden and Austria in making that cannot be ignored. sure that rule of law and other key values are respected, even in times of turbulence. In an increasingly volatile world, the EU must continue to show leadership in build- We also share high ambitions in the field ing coalitions and partnerships in support of climate policy. Green and digital tran- of effective multilateralism. Here, we should sition is needed, not only to mitigate act strongly according to our values. climate change, but also to boost the EU’s competitiveness. The Green Deal is key to We all are shocked and saddened by the European resilience, growth and prosper- recent terrorist attack in Vienna. Such acts ity. The EU has not become paralysed by are totally unacceptable and also constitute

5 attacks on our common values. It is evident that we need to continue our work on counter-terrorism with even greater deter- mination to protect our citizens. As part of a comprehensive approach to security, I would also like to highlight the importance of combatting hybrid threats.

Finland, Sweden and Austria share the objective of a strong, united and well-func- tioning EU, with a capacity to respond to European and global challenges. In the past 25 years, EU membership has become an everyday reality, sometimes even some- thing to take for granted, for our citizens. Still, the work is not over, I look forward to continuing our cooperation towards deci- sions and actions that benefit our citizens and the EU as a whole.

The EU exists for its citizens, and efficient EU action is the best way to increase trust in the EU.

We also need more transparency and open and active communication to make the meaning and role of the EU more visible to citizens.

I am convinced that together we can meet citizens’ expectations and make the EU the most competitive and socially inclusive, climate-neutral economy.

I wish you all a successful seminar. Thank you.

6 Hans Dahlgren, Minister for EU Affairs, Sweden

Thank you for this opportunity to participate in this interesting seminar and discussion! Although I must admit that I would have preferred to come again to Hanaholmen, in person, but we have to accept the way things are now.

2020 marks the 25th anniversary for the Austrian, Finnish and the Swedish membership in the European Union. And even if the past year’s work within our union has focused on combating the coronavirus, the other 24 years have been much more than emergency preparedness and recov- And with more members, there is an even ery plans. greater need to form alliances and to work with likeminded nations. This is crucial, I believe that it is important to recall that in order to form the kind of compromises public opinion in Sweden was initially not that will bring European cooperation even very positive towards a Swedish member- further. ship, when we joined back in 1995. Our referendum on the matter was won with This was clearly on display during the just a slim majority. MFF-negotiations. A small group of member states, the frugal four, supported by Finland, But last year, we witnessed the high- were able to have a substantial influence on est approval opinion ever recorded – 62 the budget framework. Not only on expen- per cent. I am glad that more and more diture levels, not onlyon the content of the Swedes are experiencing and acknowledg- budget and the recovery fund and their ing the important work carried out within clear focus on savuing the climate, but also the EU. We need some positive hope for the on an important mechanism for rule of law future, in these difficult times. conditionality.

The fundamental idea behind the EU was It was really historic that the European and always will be this: to keep the peace Council in July committed to the introduc- in Europe. And to succeed there, we have tion of a regime of conditionality. And we worked at binding so many links between hope that the final steps can soon be taken our nations that it is today unconceivable to make sure that this political commit- that anyone would start a war against ment is also transformed into a legal another member state. committment.

Since then, during these 25 years, European Maintaining the respect for the rule of law integration and cooperation has evolved. throughout our union is not an acute aspect Then, we went from 12 to 15 members. that we only need to deal with today, but Then we expanded to 25, 27, even 28. And rather a process that we need to uphold for now, after brexit, we are back at 27. a credible and fair future EU.

7 We will continue to work very closely with Austria, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands to ensure this. We are also see how we can broaden our cooperation to other areas of common concern.

One such area, where I hope we can work closer together, is the climate and the implementation of the Green Deal.

If we are to realise our long-term objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050, we must increase our reduction target also in the shorter term. The EU needs to adopt a binding EU climate target, with a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55% or more by 2030, and even more if we can.

Our two countries are leading the way in championing an increased climate target for 2030. We must continue to side with progressive forces, such as the Commission and the European Parliament, to reshape our societies for transition to a climate neutral economy by 2050.

Let us continue to work close together so that we can come out of this ongoing crisis stronger, greener and more digital than before.

Thank you!

8 SPEAKERS

Karoline Edtstadler was sworn in as Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution at the Federal Chancellery in January 2020. Previously she was posted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg as a legal expert (2016 to 2017), Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of the Interior (2017 to 2019) and Member of the European Parliament and Head of Delegation of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP/EPP) from July 2019 to January 2020.

Tytti Tuppurainen (M.A., Oulu, Finland) is Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering. She is Member of Parliament since 2011. She is also Leader of Social Democratic Women in Finland and Member of Party of European Socialists (PES), Presidency. She is a fierce advocate for multilateral global cooperation and the Rule of Law and Human Rights.

Foto: Laura Kotila, Prime Minister’s office

Hans Dahlgren was born in 1948 and has a degree in Business Administration and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics. He is a Social Democrat and has previously been State Secretary for Prime Ministers Ingvar Carlsson, Göran Persson and Stefan Löfven. He has also been foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Olof Palme, Ambassador to the United Nations and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Since 2019 he is the Minister for EU Affairs.

Foto: Kristian Pohl, Government Offices of Sweden

9 SPEAKERS

Georg Rebernig has been working at the Austrian Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt GmbH) since 1999, serving as Managing Director since 2002. Previously Mr. Rebernig worked as Environment Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union in Brussel at the time of Austria’s accession the EU (1994-1999). In addition he acts as Deputy of the Austrian Management Board Member of the European Environment Agency in Kopenhagen, amongst others. Mr. Rebernig holds a Master degree in International Business Administration from the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna.

Mari Pantsar leads the Carbon-neutral circular economy theme at Finnish Innovation fund Sitra. She steers the strategy of the theme and ensures that all activities related to it direct Finland towards a more ecologically sustainable and competitive society.

Mari has about 20 years’ experience of managerial tasks in the development of cleantech and circular economy business in the private and public sector and on several compa- nies’ boards. She has a doctorate in philosophy and holds the title of docent at the University of Helsinki and at Lappeenranta University of Technology. Among others, she is a board member of International Institute for sustainable Development.

Mari believes that ecological sustainability is not an alternative, but a starting point – and a vital part of competitiveness.

Nina Ekelund is the founder of the consulting company 2050 and general secretary of the corporate network Hagainitiativet. She has over 25 years of experience in pursuing environmental and climate issues at, among others, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Environmental Administration in the City of Stockholm and the Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University. Nina’s great-grandfather was a member of the Finnish parliament and Nina has previously been a politician in Sweden.

10 SPEAKERS

Marco Siddi is Senior Research Fellow in the EU programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, where he focuses primarily on EU-Russia relations. Prior to joining FIIA, Marco was a Marie Curie and DAAD fellow at the Institute of European Politics in Berlin, the Institute of World Economics in Budapest and the Trans European Policy Studies Association in Brussels. He has a PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh, an MA in International Studies from the Vienna School of International Studies and a BA in History and German from Oxford University.

Maximilian Hennig has been Austria’s Ambassador to Finland since 2018. Ambassador Hennig joined the Austrian Diplomatic Service in 1999 and has since served on diplomatic postings in Stockholm and Brussels and worked for the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Most recently he held the position of Director General in the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

Ambassador Nicola Clase currently serves as Swedish Ambassador to Finland. Prior to that she served as Coordinator for Migration and Refugee Issues at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and as the Swedish Ambassador to the UK. Nicola Clase held the position as State Secretary for foreign and EU affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2006-2008. As State Secretary for Foreign and EU affairs she served as the Prime Minister’s Sherpa on EU affairs and was appointed the Swedish Government’s chief negotiator on the EU Lisbon Treaty.

Born June 8, 1965 in Gothenburg, Sweden she earned her Master’s Degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Stockholm. She has also studied at Beijing Teacher’s College (Beijing Shifan Daxue) in China. She served as a fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) at Harvard University 1999-2000 and as an associate at Harvard University 2008 - 2009.

11 SPEAKERS

Jan Wahlberg is Ambassador for Climate Change for Finland. Jan is a career diplomat. His professional path has focused on European Union and Asian affairs. He has worked at Finnish missions in Shanghai, Tokyo, Bruxelles, Sofia and Madrid. Jan holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Catholic University of Chile, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Studies from University of Oregon (USA).

Dr. Juha Jokela is the Director of the European Union research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. His recent projects have focused on the political dynamics in the EU’s, and its reform agenda at the wake of the Brexit as well as EU’s foreign and security policy. He has worked in the EU Institute for Security Studies as a Senior Associated Analyst and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Advisor in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Research Fellow and Director of the Network for European Studies in the University of Helsinki. He is a member of the board of Trans-European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA).

Gunvor Kronman has extensive experience of leadership and international assignments. She is currently the CEO of Hanaholmen –Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre, and during the past 25 years has held central positions nationally and internationally across all sectors; private, public and third sector alike.

Gunvor is also Chair of the Board of Plan International Globally, Konstsamfundet, Amos Rex Contemporary Art Museum and Kalevala Jewellery Company. Vice-Chair of Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) and Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. Also serving as member of the Board of Rand Europe, UN Live and Mälardalen University in Sweden, just to mention a few.

Received several honorary medals for promoting the relations between Nordic countries and carrying out humanitarian work.

12 PERFORMERS

Maija Weitz has an international concert activity in the field of chamber music and lied accompaniment. She graduated from the University of Music in Vienna and taught piano for a long period of time at the Sibelius Academy. Her cooperation with Viennese music world is an important feature of her international activities.

2016 Gold Medal of Honour by the President of Austria, and also 2016 the award of the Order of the White Rose of Finland by the Finnish president.

Marika Krook, the well known classical singer and musical star graduated 2005 from the Sibelius Academy. International perfor- mances as opera and concert singer, as soloist with Finnish symphony orchestras, leading operetta roles at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki and the Helsinki City Theater. She also repre- sented Finland in the Eurovision song contest.

13 CONCLUSIONS FOR THE EVENT: AFTER 25 YEARS OF COMMON EU MEMBERSHIP - WORKING TOGETHER FOR A GREENER EUROPEAN FUTURE

By Juha Jokela and Marco Siddi

Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995 in the environment of large scale political, economic and societal transition in Europe and beyond. The end of the Cold War led to a new sense of political unity in Europe. At the same time, globalization intensi- fied and started to ever more deeply shape the relations between states, businesses and citizens. In this context and at the eve of the fourth enlargement round, European integration had taken decisive steps towards an ever closer union in the city of Maastricht in 1992, and the three new members states fully embraced the opportunities brought by the European Union.

Austria, Finland and Sweden have all taken a pro-active and pragmatic approach to EU policy-making and reforms. They have understood that the influence of relatively small members results from an active engagement and future oriented proposals. While in 1995 the EU grew to 15 Member States, three subsequent rounds of enlargement brought the number of Member States to 28 (now 27). Conscious of the importance of uniting the European continent, Austria Finland and Sweden have actively been promoting further EU enlargement to include the countries of the Western Balkans. They also worked towards a single market based on competitiveness, innovation and digitalization.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union occurs at a very eventful moment of European and global politics. The EU has spent recent years navigating internal and external challenges, from eurocrisis to migration pressure, and from Brexit to the rise of illiberal leaders in Western countries and elsewhere. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic compounded this difficult scenario. Despite being confronted with numerous short-term crises, the EU has also focused on what is perhaps the most severe long-term emergency for both Europe and the planet: climate change.

In recent years, the climate crisis has become increasingly evident, as highlighted by the melting of polar ice and glaciers, record high temperatures and a succession of cata- strophic forest fires in Sweden, Siberia, Australia and the US in 2018-20. While global climate diplomacy achieved an important success with the signature of the Paris climate agreement in 2015, subsequent climate action was less dynamic. In this context, the EU faced the challenging task of taking center stage and ‘leading by example’ in climate policy.

In December 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal, a road- map of upcoming policies and strategies to promote the energy transition and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The European Green Deal includes, most notably, a climate law, a new industrial strategy, a ‘farm-to-fork strategy’ concerning the sustainability of the food chain, a new circular economy action plan, the expansion of the EU Emission Trading System and the introduction of a border carbon adjustment mechanism. EU institutions are debating a climate law that will codify the climate neutrality target by 2050.

14 Nordic EU members and Austria have been particularly ambitious concerning the green agenda and emission reduction targets. In EU negotiations, they argued that the climate neutrality target by 2050 should be binding on individual member states (rather than just at the EU level) and that the EU should strive for negative emissions after 2050. While not all member states agreed on these ambitious proposals, Austria, Finland and Sweden clearly positioned themselves as leaders in climate action in the EU and played a highly constructive role in the recent upward revision of EU greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030. The new target, agreed upon at the European Council in December 2020, foresees a 55 per cent reduction until 2030.

Most significantly, this commitment – as well as the climate neutrality commitment by 2050 – was made while a global pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis were in full swing. Indeed, in March 2020, the abrupt realization that the pandemic had reached Europe and the ensuing lockdowns in most of the continent risked shifting the atten- tion and priority away from the Green Deal. However, in late May, in its Communication ‘Europe’s Moment’, the Commission made clear that its agenda, including the planned recovery instruments, would continue to focus on the green and digital transitions.

EU climate diplomacy continued to work largely as planned and scored important successes in the second half of 2020. The commitments of South Korea and Japan to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, as well as the announcement of China’s zero net emission target by 2060, were particularly important steps in this regard. Multilateral cooperation remains an essential component of the EU’s and global climate agenda.

The EU also plans to announce a carbon border adjustment mechanism in 2021 to ensure that its ambitious agenda does not lead to carbon leakage, namely the transfer of more polluting industrial production outside the Union. While the risk exists that other countries see the mechanism as ‘green protectionism’, the EU hopes that it will work as a stim- ulus for other countries to focus on the energy transition. With regard to the Global South, this can happen if the EU increases relevant technology cooperation and transfers for the purpose of climate mitigation and adaptation. It is essential that, both within the EU and worldwide, the transition to a more sustainable economy and society is just and does not leave poorer countries behind.

In conclusion, the EU has managed to drive forward its green agenda despite multi- ple challenges. Austria, Finland and Sweden were at the forefront of EU climate action. Considering the urgency of the climate crisis, their efforts were arguably an excellent way of marking their twenty-fifth year of EU membership through active commitment to the EU and to an essential European and global cause.

15 ORGANIZERS