Finnish-French MEP criticise Finnish President and Foreign Minister

February 25, 2005 

The former Finnish rally driver and current Member of the European Parliament for Grand Sud-Est France, Ari Vatanen, harshly criticised Finnish President Tarja Halonen and the current Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja for having an anti-American stance and maintaining old-fashioned ideologies about defence strategies that hark back to the 1970s, in an article in the Wall Street Journal Europe. 
The UMP member, born in Finland, said that considering that 94% of the nations in the EU are NATO members, it does not make sense for Finland to not join. 
According to Vatanen, when the MEP first tried publish the piece in the Helsingin Sanomat, the newspaper refused to publish it.
Finnish - French MEP criticise Finnish President and Foreign Minister February 25 , 2005 The former Finnish rally driver and current Member of the European Parliament for Grand Sud - Est France , Ari Vatanen , harshly criticised Finnish President Tarja Halonen and the current Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja for having an anti - American stance and maintaining old - fashioned ideologies about defence strategies that hark back to the 1970s , in an article in the Wall Street Journal Europe . The UMP member , born in Finland , said that considering that 94 % of the nations in the EU are NATO members , it does not make sense for Finland to not join . According to Vatanen , when the MEP first tried publish the piece in the Helsingin Sanomat , the newspaper refused to publish it .
Finnish-French MEP criticise
np0
Finnish President
np1
Foreign Minister
np2
The former Finnish rally driver
np3
current Member
np4
France
np5
Ari Vatanen
np6
Finnish President Tarja Halonen
np7
the current Foreign Minister
np8
Erkki Tuomioja
np9
an anti-American stance
np10
old-fashioned ideologies
np11
defence strategies
np12
the 1970s
np13
an article
np14
the Wall Street Journal Europe
np15
The UMP member
np16
Finland
np17
94%
np18
the nations
np19
the EU
np20
NATO members
np21
sense
np22
Finland
np23
Vatanen
np24
the MEP
np25
the piece
np26
the Helsingin Sanomat
np27
the newspaper
np28
Europe
np29
NATO
np30
European Parliament for Grand Sud-Est France
np31
the European Parliament for Grand Sud-Est France
np32