Finnish FM: Lukashenka admires Nordic welfare society model
Zmicier Lukashuk, Euroradio
23 December 2019, 23:16
Aliaksandr Lukashenka admires the Nordic model of the welfare society and would like to develop his country in that direction, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Euroradio in Helsinki.
"We had an excellent visit to Belarus with my Swedish Foreign Minister colleague Ann Linde. So, we met your President Lukashenka and your Foreign Minister Makei and we had excellent talks there.
And in these talks, by the way, President Lukashenka told us that he admires a Nordic model of the welfare society and he stressed that he must develop his own country in that direction.
Of course, there is our full support for that," Haavisto said.
The Nordic model of welfare is distinguished from other types of welfare states by its emphasis on maximising labour force participation, promoting gender equality, egalitarian and extensive benefit levels, the large magnitude of income redistribution and liberal use of expansionary fiscal policy.
The Finnish and Swedish foreign ministers visited Minsk on 25 November and discussed among other issues on the agenda the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which remains an obstacle in deepening the EU-Belarus relations. The Finnish foreign minister confirmed that he proposed during the visit to Minsk that there could be a tripartite meeting hosted by Finland’s nuclear power authorities on the remaining questions on nuclear safety between Belarus and Lithuania.
"There have been strong reservations on the security issues on the Lithuania side. We proposed during our stay in Minsk that there could be a tripartite meeting hosted by Finland’s nuclear authorities on those remaining questions on nuclear safety if our nuclear authority could be of any help to Belarus and Lithuanian authorities. This has been our proposal and we work on that and we hope that this could be one step to unlock the situation that has been hindering the EU-Belarus relations," Haavisto said.
Lithuania eventually rejected this proposal on the tripartite talks.
23 December 2019, 23:16
Pekka Haavisto / Reuters
"We had an excellent visit to Belarus with my Swedish Foreign Minister colleague Ann Linde. So, we met your President Lukashenka and your Foreign Minister Makei and we had excellent talks there.
And in these talks, by the way, President Lukashenka told us that he admires a Nordic model of the welfare society and he stressed that he must develop his own country in that direction.
Of course, there is our full support for that," Haavisto said.
The Nordic model of welfare is distinguished from other types of welfare states by its emphasis on maximising labour force participation, promoting gender equality, egalitarian and extensive benefit levels, the large magnitude of income redistribution and liberal use of expansionary fiscal policy.
The Finnish and Swedish foreign ministers visited Minsk on 25 November and discussed among other issues on the agenda the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which remains an obstacle in deepening the EU-Belarus relations. The Finnish foreign minister confirmed that he proposed during the visit to Minsk that there could be a tripartite meeting hosted by Finland’s nuclear power authorities on the remaining questions on nuclear safety between Belarus and Lithuania.
"There have been strong reservations on the security issues on the Lithuania side. We proposed during our stay in Minsk that there could be a tripartite meeting hosted by Finland’s nuclear authorities on those remaining questions on nuclear safety if our nuclear authority could be of any help to Belarus and Lithuanian authorities. This has been our proposal and we work on that and we hope that this could be one step to unlock the situation that has been hindering the EU-Belarus relations," Haavisto said.
Lithuania eventually rejected this proposal on the tripartite talks.
