Finnish PM Katainen: Lapland Retreat 2013 – fresh ideas for Europe

Government Communications Department
22.3.2013

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb host an informal meeting, Lapland Retreat 2013, on 22–24 March in Saariselkä, Lapland. Informal discussions focus on the future challenges of Europe.

- I am looking forward to our discussions in Saariselkä. We will hopefully have fruitful exchanges of views generating fresh ideas that help us tackle our joint challenges at European level. While we deal with the challenges of the euro crisis, we also have to take a long term look at the future of Europe. We have a good mix of representatives from European countries this weekend: several EU Member States, Croatia that will join the EU in few months and Turkey, a candidate country and an important strategic partner for the EU, said Prime Minister Katainen ahead of the Lapland Retreat in Saariselkä.

The intention of the Lapland Retreat is to bring European leaders together in an informal and leisurely setting to discuss the challenges that Europe and the EU face during the economic and social crisis. Discussions take place under Chatham House rules and there will be no conclusions or joint statements.

The Lapland Retreat 2013 will be attended by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton.

More information: Pasi Rajala, Special Adviser (EU Affairs), tel. +358 295 160 311 or +358 400 464 393 and Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, Head of Communications for EU Affairs, tel. +358 50 596 5821, Prime Minister’s Office

 

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