Threat to representative democracy in EU worries Niinistö

In his New Year address on Tuesday, President Sauli Niinistö expressed his concern about the emerging threat to "representative democracy" in Europe.

He noted that Europe has a long tradition of representative democracy, but recently discontent has led to demands for "direct democracy" and various movements have been created.

The president warned of the loss of the ability to "harmonize different viewpoints", which he described as an essential component of representative democracy.

Niinistö said there is no place in democracy for extremist movements. He mentioned the participation of anarchists in the French yellow vest movement and the appearance of Nazi flags in a demonstration in Helsinki.

The president deplored the internal weakness of the European Union. "Europe must be brought back to the tables where the decisions about the future are made. An internally weak European Union is not able to do this. Together we must perform better."

He said that European values used to be exported, but now those values are being defended on the home front. "Europe is the most democratic, equal and free continent in the world. Now it has, however, drifted into divisive quarrels over its very own values."

Discussing the current debate on immigration, he said adaptation into the society must be required. "Behaviour contradicting our laws and values increases the risk of stigmatisation of entire groups of people and arouses deep mistrust, even hatred," he warned.

Niinistö also said the international rule-based system should be defended continuously.

"The UN system is a significant supporting pillar also of Finland's own security and well-being. At the same time, we also have to prepare for the possibility that the current system may not be able to recover to what it once was," he said. Niinistö noted the current multipolarization in the world. In this change Finland "must remain vigilant", he said.