Finland slams EU foreign policy leaks

By Lisbeth Kirk

08/09/06 " EUobserver" -- - Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency since 1 July, has accused member states of leaking important foreign policy documents to countries outside the EU, including Israel.

"It has long been known that all EU documents that deal with the Middle East also are known in Tel Aviv within an hour after having been distributed to the member states, and probably also in Washington and Moscow," Mr Tuomioja wrote in a comment in Hufvudstadsbladet, the biggest Swedish language daily in Finland.

The problem with [the EU's] foreign policy is not the lack of openness but its wrong transparency," reads the exceptionally outspoken piece titled: "The wrong transparency".

He went on to write that the leaks have a negative influence on the EU's foreign policy capabilities and encourage member states to act outside the EU's formal decision-making structure.

"This is problematic for the whole union, but especially harmful to the smaller member states," he wrote.

The very first weeks of the Finnish EU presidency have been extraordinarily busy for Mr Tuomioja with the crisis in Libanon exploding just days after he took over responsibility for the bloc's foreign policy.

In the article, Mr Tuomioja lambasted EU ministers for acting in their national interests and for preparing for EU summits as if they were facing "difficult negotiations with countries with a potentially hostile attitude".

He also criticised EU officials for giving comments to media prematurely and the media for publishing "coloured and national contradictory reports on how decisions were made which many ministers often find very difficult to recognize as a description of the meeting they have themselves participated in".

"It would have great significance for the EU's morale, trustworthiness and efficiency if ministers came to EU meetings with a certain feeling of common goals and not primarily to bring home gains – often proclaimed by their own press - for domestic use," he wrote.

© 2006 EUobserver,