Reetta Härönoja is on the map of almost everything the EU does. The war in Ukraine has been the hardest time for him in his career.
30.5. 06:10 • Updated May 30th. 06:17
BRUSSELS How do you feel when you can never turn off your work phone?
You can ask that Reetta from Härönoja.
He is a so-called Antici official. Behind the word monster lies a bright picture of work: staying on carts for just about anything. Härönoja is the EU ambassador in Brussels Markku Keinänen “right hand and left foot”.
He has not turned off the phone after the Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his anti-Ukrainian hate speech on 21 February and sent troops across the border on a killing and robbery trip three days later.
In fact, Härönoja has not closed the work phone for five years.
– The cell phone has grown stuck in my hand. Things happen at any time, even in the middle of the night. It has to be on call, he says.
That’s the phone in it now. In hand, ready.
“Here’s to knowing almost everyone’s views on almost everything”
Härönoja sits in the meeting room of the Finnish Mission to the EU in Brussels and drops the phone on the table next to the Iittala Teema coffee cup. There is an automatic coffee in the cup.
Coffee is the oil of EU officials, and Counselor Härönoja has oil in the EU machinery.
– In this pest, you know the positions of almost all member states on almost everything. Very rarely do you get any surprises, Härönoja smiles.
Antic’s job is to keep track of all the preparations that officials in Brussels make. The name is Peru From Paolo Anticiltafrom an Italian EU official who came up with the system in the 1970s.
Härönoja monitors, negotiates and prepares himself, sits in meetings for hours and is the link between Finland and Brussels.
She has a huge relationship network.
– Things in Brussels are handled in such a way that we know, we talk in the corridors, we agree. The last rivets are struck in the meetings.
The sanctions were quickly hammered – until they hit a wall
This spring, the EU’s main task has been to prepare economic sanctions for Russia so that its war machinery suffers.
Five sanction packages went well. The EU was fast, united and efficient. But the sixth package, a total ban on imports of Russian oil, was stuck when Hungary pulled the parking brake. It was no surprise for Härönoja.
– Europe is so shockingly dependent on Russian energy.
Officials, the Commission and the principals have tried to open the knot. Since February 21, Härönoja has been at work almost non-stop.
While the war raises emotions, in the meetings the emotions have remained under control. Working groups of civil servants are faceless mills grinding positions so politicians can step into the meeting room and say NO! or OUI !.
– Our work is behind everything and invisible. The prime minister is the one with the last word in the room, Härönoja says.
Finland has been criticized from time to time for passivity in the EU, but it has been determined in sanctions.
– Finland has pushed for strong action. A clear line has made it easier for us officials.
The war has gone under the skin
War has struck the skin and slipped under the epidermis.
– This spring has been the hardest time of my career. There is a war in Europe, it is terrible, Härönoja says.
– I haven’t been to work every Saturday and Sunday, but almost. First, you twelve hours out of sanctions, and there’s no time to think about anything else.
– Then you get home, open the telly and see how people are being killed in Butcha.
Although the sixth package has stalled, Härönoja says he is proud of the EU.
– It is almost incomprehensible at what pace the sanctions packages have come and how well the EU front has held. It’s pleasantly surprising, he says.
Is this the work that matters?
– Sanctions are a key tool in EU foreign policy and have now become a reality. It was immediately decided to freeze Russia’s central bank assets and close the airspace. Those were big things that made an impact right away.
We have been preparing for this summit for weeks
Officials have been preparing for weeks for the EU summit, which starts today in Brussels.
Ukraine is the number one thing. There is war and peace on the list.
The list includes EUR 9 billion in reconstruction aid and how to get grain from Ukraine to Africa so that the famine does not create a new wave of refugees.
There is also talk of energy. The EU is allowing more investment in fossil energy, but at the same time trying to find additional billions in renewable energy from the current budget.
Finland supports support for Ukraine and opposes the return to fossils. When the Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd.) rubs the deal with the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbánin and the French Presidency of the Presidency Emmanuel Macronin with, Härönoja is close by.
– We anticit sit in the next room of EU leaders. Officials visit the hall to tell what the leaders are saying.
Two more meetings, then the phone goes off
The summit is the second to last for Härönoja. Midsummer is the last.
He has been with Antici for five years – 23 years in the EU – and will return to Finland in July.
Then you no longer have to keep your phone on all the time.
– The Finnish presidency was held first. Then came Korona and now the war. There has never been a normal time in five years.
But the last few years have been a dream come true.
– I’m an EU nerd. This was my dream street for me.
The EU summit will be held in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, 30-31. May. will follow the meeting on site and report on the decisions on the website, television and radio.