Book Review | Jaakko Iloniemi, the country’s leading Westerner, has helped four presidents – but not Tarja Halo

Culture|Book review

Biography

Hannu Himanen: Iloniemi – Eminence. Docendo. 585 s.

The trade guildIn the 1960s, a group of like-minded younger foreign ministry officials gathered at the restaurant to figure out how to “extend the string” to the Soviet Union and increase freedom of movement to the west. Diplomats were concerned about Finland’s neutrality, which politicians no longer dared to defend against pressure from Moscow and Tehtaankatu.

The group was born Max Jakobson around and developed into a dizzying team that tried to make Jakobson the UN Secretary-General. Jakobson made it to the finals, but the company failed in a UN vote in December 1971.

When it was revealed that Jakobson had also been overthrown by the Soviet Union, the president Urho Kekkonen and politicians were startled. The group was disbanded and the career cycle of its members slowed. Happinessists invented nicknames for it, such as “doctorate” and “colonel junta”.

In addition to Jakobson, the group included diplomats Ilkka Pastinen and Risto Hyvärinen as well as an officer Aimo Pajunen. They are already dead, but there is one left, Minister Jaakko Iloniemiwhich turns 90 this spring.

Iloniemi is cherished the original goal of the “kopla” for decades, to expand Finland’s freedom of movement to the west step by step.

In the early 1970s, he became a draftsman of the European Security Assembly and was nicknamed Mr. Etyk. Iloniemi managed to attract suspicious Western countries.

After many commercial events, the meeting was held in Helsinki in the summer of 1975. Finland and Kekkonen received much honor. The reputation as a neutral country was strengthened.

Since then, Iloniemi has worked hard to make Finland an EU, euro and NATO country. If anyone, then Jaakko Iloniemi has been the leading Westerner in the kingdom.

Public influence, speeches and writings, has been just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the work has been done where Iloniemi is at its best, in networks in Finland and internationally.

Four presidents has made use of Iloniemi ‘s knowledge and skills. From Urho Kekko, he helped Etyk as a negotiator and organizer, and Martti Ahtisaari needed help a lot. “Jaakko Iloniemi is a realistic analyst, one of the most important people in my life,” Ahtisaari admits.

To Mauno Koivisto and Sauli to Niinistö Iloniemi has been a permanent, great interlocutor. However, one name is missing from the series of presidents, Tarja Halonen.

“During Halonen’s time, Iloniemi hardly slammed the doors of the Presidential Palace; there was no demand for his views, ”he writes Hannu Himanen biography Iloniemi – eminence.

Himanen no longer sheds light on why Halonen and Iloniemi were not in contact with each other. Could it be because of those famous personal chemistry?

Prime minister Paavo Lipponen (sd) personal chemistry works. The friendship and cooperation of the men lasted from the demarches of Iloniemi’s surprise leap to the young Finns’ candidate in the European elections in the 1990s. He got a lot of votes, not enough until the election.

The candidacy remained a unique experience. Himanen estimated that Iloniemi lacked a real desire to become a politician. He felt better in the background.

Jaakko Iloniemi was in the bread of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for twenty years and his career progressed rapidly, until in 1983 he moved from the post of Ambassador to Washington to the Executive Board of the United Bank of Finland. There was no decent place for him in the ministry after Washington.

“Like a good butler, Iloniemi served the ruler, but also expected to receive reasonable compensation for his services,” Himanen writes.

The United Bank and later the Business Delegation Eva offered the director “reasonable compensation” and freedom of action. In addition to everyday work, Iloniemi was able to pursue a foreign and security policy. He was used by the country’s governments to pave the way for awkward projects such as the first fighter deal.

Retired Iloniemi has continued to participate and write at almost the same pace. He has not wanted to make memoirs for some reason.

Hannu Himanenalso a retired diplomat, says he was overwhelmed by conflicting emotions when asked to write a biography of a friend.

“The temptation was still beyond doubt,” Himanen admits in the preface. It is not worth wondering, as there is plenty of interesting source material, Iloniemi’s correspondence alone is a treasure trove.

The timing of the book hits the button, and the long arc of the biography gets to culminate in applying for NATO membership.

Himanen manages to tell the story of the eminence as well as possible at all. Not everything is told, because one of the slogans of the eminences is:

If you tell everyone else, you will be left with nothing.