The accession of Finland to the European Union required a number of difficult issues to be negotiated and solved before membership became possible. I am glad to say that energy did not belong to the problem areas. Finland, being heavily dependent on imported energy, has attached great importance to security issues. As my country is, at the same time, one of the most energy-intensive industrialized economies in the world, energy efficiency has always been a concern of the energy producers, users and the Government.
Environment protection is taken very seriously due to the fragile arctic nature of the country.
All these elements of energy policy are carried through in a market-oriented framework that is, I dare say, one of the most liberal ones in Europe. Against this background one can understand that membership did not really change the substance of energy policy. The only major area where special arrangements were negotiated was nuclear fuel supply. There we wanted to ensure smooth transition to the new Euratom environment and to preserve diversity of supply. We believe that it will also bring positive inputs to national energy policy.