Editorials and columns

If You Do Not Export Electricity, You Will Import It

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

As I predicted (NORDICUM December 2009), the Copenhagen Summit turned out to be a total catastrophe for the European Union. The EU was not even at the table, when the Copenhagen Accord was negotiated. Can there be a clearer sign as to who are running the world? It was a rude awakening. It is time to reassess both EU c...
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EU catastrophy in Copenhagen?

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

It is, by now, clear that no binding international agreement will emerge from the Copenhagen Climate Summit. From the beginning, expectations about so-called ambitious results were unrealistic. The United States was not going to change its approach 180 degrees from Kyoto, and the developing countries could not be expec...
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Time for decisions

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland.

The global economic crisis is being tackled with concerted action by all the major players. The G20 meeting in London on 3 March 2009 gave an extra boost to our confidence about recovery in the near future. Concrete action must follow: all governments should stimulate their economies more, regulatory reform cannot wait...
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We are all in it together

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

In November 1977, in a speech to the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce in New York City, I quoted J.K. Galbraith’s two principles for understanding the American economy: Rule Number One: “Under all circumstances you should mistrust and hence ignore all official economic forecasts.” Rule Number ...
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EU second thoughts on climate and energy policy

By Paavo Lipponen
The writer is former Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament of Finland

In spite of systematic campaign against its legitimacy, nuclear energy is coming back as an important element in European climate change policy. The statement of Energy Commissioner Andres Pielbags at the Foratom Conference in April made it clear: “Nuclear energy makes an important contribution to our fight again...
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