Interview of the party leader

An article published 14.09.2006 in Kaleva, one of the biggest newspaper in Finland. Click here to see the original article in Finnish (pdf. file).

By Tarja Ranta-Ala-aho.

From A Little Village To A Federalist Party Leader

"Old parties have forgotten the new European generation," says the new party leader.

"There is a new European generation which has begun to make their visions reality. When the work is done we will live, not in a union, but in a "United States of Europe"." So says Aki Paasovaara from Kainuu, Finland, currently resident in Copenhagen. He has established a pan-European party which works openly for a federal Europe.

At present there are members from 48 countries in party leader Paasovaara's group, while the membership numbers 500. That is not very many per country, but Aki Paasovaara is certain that at the end of the road lies something great and unique.

Paasovaara, who spent his childhood in the little village of Hossa, has seen and experienced a lot for his age. He was born and spent his teens in Kajaani. After that came the United States and London. He got his Masters in Economics from his current home country, Denmark, where he was enchanted by his future wife seven years ago. Paasovaara sees himself as European, not Danish or Finnish. Nonetheless, the smalltown Hossa boy still rises to the surface sometimes. According to Paasovaara, politicians have forgotten people like that. "We have the same agenda everywhere. We are a generation which feels European. And we want deeper integration," Paasovaara explains.

Politics All His Life
While his mission is unique, Aki Paasovaara is not in politics for first time. For Paasovaara, nuorsuomalaiset (Finnish party) initial steps and short lived success are familiar experiences. When Risto E.J. Penttilä and Jukka Tarkka were members of the Finnish parliament, Paasovaara was then aged 19 and was working for the party headquarters. It could sound like it, but Europe United is not a new liberal movement. According to Paasovaara, the party's economical policies are rather liberal, while, for example, the party's environment policies greener than the Greens'. Prioritised above all are a Nordic concept of the 'safety net', equality and caring.

Which Finnish party could be closest to Mr. Paasovaara's party? "It is not the Centre Party (Finnish: Keskusta), but we are somewhere in the middle of the left-right axis." He sees a lot of similarities between the Danish Social Liberal Party and Europe United.

Passion And Volunteer Work
Paasovaara had been thinking of taking active part in politics for a long time, when the final wake-up call came. The French and Duch "no" put fire in the federalist. Aki Paasovaara and others have great plans and the young Europeans are not shy, but know exactly what they want. They want a united, strong and dynamic Europe. "The only problem is the missing link between EU and its citizens and therefore we need a new kind of political party. A party which has the backbone to fight for United Europe!" So goes the manifesto on their web site.

The old parties were not enough for Paasovaara, even knowing that the chosen way would be much rockier and harder than joining an established party. They would have the money, media connections and long-standing supporters. Now there are volunteers, passion and their leaders' savings.

Headquarters to Brussels
The current headquarters are located in Denmark, simply because Paasovaara lives there. However, establishing a party in Denmark is easy, a matter of notifying the authorities. The office is located in Greater-Copenhagen, Ishoj, but the headquarters will be established in Brussels. But how does a trans-national party work? Paasovaara explains that the headquarter is responsible for co-ordinating and European level issues. Each national chapter will sign a paper, which defines which issues belong to the national level and which should be dealt on European level. In unclear cases, the party has established an internal Federal Arbitration Tribunal, lead by Kevin Hood, a lawyer from Great-Britain.

The journey has just begun, but one of the destinations is already getting closer. 2009's Europarliament elections. The countries with most developed branches will take part in the trial. Finland can be one of them.