Northern Dimension father for EU presidency
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb says former prime minister and founding father of the EU’s Northern Dimension Paavo Lipponen is an “excellent candidate” for the job as future EU president.
Mr. Stubb in an interview with newspaper Uutispäivä Demari declined to give his government’s official support for Lipponen’s candidacy, but still said that he was an “excellent candidate” and an “exemplary European”, Yle News reports.
The EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which is in the process of being approved by the member states, opens up for the establishment of a permanent post as EU President. Today, the members countries share the presidency in 6-month intervals.
Among the achievements of Social Democrat Paavo Lipponen is the establishment of the Northern Dimension concept, the EU’s main policy instrument in the northernmost parts of Europe. That concept was formalized during the Finnish chairmanship period in 1999.
The Northern Dimension was strengthen and adjusted with the adoption of the second framework agreement from 2006, which includes both Norway and Russia as equal Northern Dimension partners.
