greatreporter.com, December 31st, 2006
Area: 338,145 sq km (130,559 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 5,265,000
Capital:
Helsinki
Chief of state:
President
Tarja
Halonen
Head of government:
Prime Minister
Matti
Vanhanen
In 2006
Finland
celebrated the centenary of full political rights for women, a first in world history, and in January
Pres.
Tarja
Halonen
, the country's first woman head of state, was reelected for a second six-year term.
Halonen
, the Social Democratic Party candidate, gained the most votes in the first round but failed to achieve the 50% majority required for victory. In the second-round ballot on January 29, she defeated
Sauli
Niinistö
, the National Coalition Party candidate and a European Investment Bank vice president, by 51.8–48.2%. During the campaign
Niinistö
suggested that if NATO continued to become more "European," membership might be an option for
Finland
.
Halonen
, however, maintained that there was no urgent reason for
Finland
to join NATO. Observers speculated that one big reason for
Halonen
's victory could have been the large number of Centre Party voters who decided to stay away from the polls.
Finland
's second European Union presidency began in July, just a month before the outbreak of war in
Lebanon
.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Erkki
Tuomioja
condemned the Israeli intervention in
Lebanon
while demanding the release of the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah forces.
Finland
announced that it would commit troops to
Lebanon
, despite the fact that a Finnish UN observer in
Lebanon
had been killed in an Israeli attack. On December 5 the Finnish Parliament overwhelmingly approved the European Union constitution by a vote of 125–39, leading the way for
President
Halonen
to sign the measure into law. No plebiscite was held prior to the vote.
Prime Minister
Matti
Vanhanen
played host at the Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEM 6, in
Helsinki
on September 10–11. The summit was attended by leaders from the 24 other EU members and 13 Asian countries. Police contained a demonstration that apparently was designed to become a riot. Many of the demonstrators were sponsored by the anarchist Smash ASEM group, which had disrupted previous summits, and a declaration posted on the Smash ASEM Web site promised to "bring at least a bit of disorder to streets of
Helsinki
as well." Although the confrontations were mostly condemned by the media, polls showed that public opinion approved of the nonviolent police moves. After several complaints were filed, the National Bureau of Investigation looked into police actions.
In August
Russia
paid
Finland
. The obligations dated from the late 1980s, when
Russia
assumed responsibility for the debts incurred by the former Soviet Union, which had owed
Finland
more than €222 million (€1 = about $1.27) and agreed to provide another €25 million–€30 million in goods and services to cancel the last of its debt to €1 billion.
Finnish cellular phone giant Nokia and its German rival Siemens announced in June that they would unite their network operations. In its third-quarter report, released in October, Nokia estimated that it had increased its share of the world cell phone market from 34% to 36%.
Copyright © 1994-2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
