Subsidies and protectionism

In a radio interview today, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen opined (fi), "Of course a union of 27 member countries works on a different logic than a union of 15 member countries. In parts of the union changes have occurred in the logic of politics; protectionism is to some extent gaining ground in thinking, and that's in no way in Finland's interests."

The issue on which negotiations have been most difficult as of late is agricultural subsidies. Vanhanen as a Centrist defends them whereas many others in the EU want to cut them. In Vanhanen's mind, this shows that other countries don't want competition from Finnish agricultural produce. Defending subsidies naturally has nothing whatsoever to do with protectionism or national interest or any of those bad things.

Friday's Helsingin Sanomat had an article on some of the wrangling going on right now.