HS Foreign 18.2.2003 - Reijo Kemppinen, on the record

By Petteri Tuohinen in Brussels

Reijo Kemppinen, 45, shows me an ordinary-looking speaker's box. However, there is quite a bit of technology inside. It says OFF next to a red button. When you push the red button, a red light goes on in the press room of the EU Commission. This signals that the Commission's spokesperson will now speak off the record, and cannot be directly quoted. A computer screen sits below the wooden cover, allowing a spokesperson to receive data from upstairs officials when necessary.

"Have you seen the movie Wag the Dog? It had one just like this", Kemppinen asks.

This is the central area

of Kemppinen's new job: the speaker's box of the press room in the cellar of the Commission headquarters. The rows of seats are now empty, but by tomorrow at midday, just like on all weekdays, the room will be filled to the brim with hundreds of reporters. Beginning in mid-March, the new Commission spokesman will begin to tell them what the Commission's official view is on different matters.

Kemppinen is not only at the pinnacle of his career so far, he is also at one of the top seats within the Union. Every word uttered in the press room is highly significant.

Kemppinen is well aware of this, thanks to his own experience. Towards the end of last year, he prepared a routine interview with Commission President Romano Prodi and reporters from the AFP news agency and Le Monde. Almost as an afterthought, Prodi happened to describe the growth and stability pact, which is extremely important for the EU economy, as "stupid".

Bingo! The media had a field day, and demanded explanations from Prodi and his spokesman Kemppinen. Finnish Minister of Finance Sauli Niinistö commented that the only stupid thing in the matter was Prodi's statement.

Prodi continues to stand

behind the interview. However, Kemppinen admits that the pact could have been described with other words, such as "too rigid". But he does not regret what happened, as the choice of one word evoked a wide-ranging debate on the possibility of changing the requirements of the pact. At the time, the situation was serious nevertheless. If Prodi had gone down, Kemppinen would have tumbled along with him.

"There was definitely plenty of feedback that took attention away from the main point. This is a double-edged sword, but without that word, there would have been no discussion", Kemppinen muses.

Kemppinen is also familiar with the behind-the-scenes Prodi, who he describes as sympathetic, honest, patient, and focused. According to Kemppinen, Prodi has a clear view of the direction Europe should develop in.

Kemppinen is right when saying that the general public does not know the true Prodi. It is true that Prodi gives off a superficial and one-sided image in public, because in Brussels, the focus of the media is on substance, the hard news. On the other hand, Prodi could work on his public demeanour, and try to choose his words a bit more carefully at times.

But then what?

If the general public knew that Prodi's heart rate at rest is 40 according to a measurement taken in December, or more details about his family, what would that change?

"It would make Prodi's image as a person more complete and more understandable. This is missing now, and it is a difficult problem. The representatives of the EU are not recognisable in the same way as the leading politicians of member-states. It is most likely that citizens know many personal facts about Paavo Lipponen and none about Prodi, even though they have never even met Lipponen in person."

Then Kemppinen has an idea: a women's magazine should become interested in Prodi. However, it would be "trickery" to purposely sell Prodi to magazines; that would not work.

Kemppinen is, quite naturally, very loyal to Prodi and will not begin to examine his boss's possible faults. Some things could of course be developed.

"His Finnish skills could be improved considerably", Kemppinen grins. "Prodi is not entirely convinced that Finnish is a language, because Finnish sounds like a series of double consonants to him."

The Italian Prodi and Finnish Kemppinen

make a good team. The Commission's press services include people from all member-states and their cultures, but according to Kemppinen, the Italians and Finns get along very well. Finns adapt easily and say things how they are, making them the kind of people that Italians respect.

"The more cultures that are included in the EU, the greater is the value of simple directness and practicality."

Kemppinen, who measures 198 centimetres in height, spends about one hundred days a year moving around the diplomatic circles in the company of Prodi, who is quite a bit shorter. It is not difficult to imagine that Kemppinen has been mistaken for Prodi's bodyguard.

"No one has come up to me and called me a bodyguard. Besides, my shoulders have slumped enough over the years that maybe they undermine by credibility as a heavy."

The head spokesperson of the Commission

cannot afford to make mistakes, as the consequences are concrete and can be reflected in global politics. Just like all human beings, Kemppinen also makes mistakes. For example, eighteen months ago when working as the spokesman of Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten. Patten was travelling, and Kemppinen answered the questions of reporters in Brussels about talks with Israel.

"I decided to press the red button so that we could go off the record. I said that the EU can react to the situation in many ways, from a critical statement to trade sanctions."

Those words should not have been uttered, as the Israeli and Arab journalists interpreted the message in their own way, and the local media kept up a heated debate about the future EU sanctions for a few days afterwards.

"There are moments that definitely make you stronger - if they do not kill you."

Kemppinen's appointment

as head spokesperson of the EU Commission is a true success story. He was a correspondent for Uusi Suomi in 1990-1992. Finland's Ambassador to the EU, Antti Satuli, noticed Kemppinen's talent and recruited him first to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, then to the Finnish EU representation in Brussels. The international media became familiar with Kemppinen when he worked as head of press relations during Finland's EU Presidency in 1999. The next year, he began work as one of the Commission's spokesmen, even though he had sworn never to jump over to that side.

"Antti and I have worked together since 1992; he was the one who discovered me. Another person who I personally thanked at the European Parliament in Strasbourg was Paavo Väyrynen, who was the Foreign Minister at the time."

Kemppinen's past and present acquaintances

are not likely to say one negative word about him. "A really hard-working fellow", "innovative", "questioned everything", "reliable", "a smart guy", "direct", his friends and colleagues describe him.

"Euro-Reiska should be put on display and shown to kids in schools as a good example", one acquaintance says.

At Uusi Suomi, Kemppinen had plenty of ideas that often resembled gonzo journalism. He worked on a long article on how Helsinki could be different. Once the article had been published, Helsinki Mayor Raimo Ilaskivi called up the Uusi Suomi office personally. On another fine day, Kemppinen sent a reporter with a fishing rod to the bridge that connects the Kruununhaka and Hakaniemi districts in downtown Helsinki, just to see how people would react and what kind of a catch could be had in the middle of town.

According to one colleague, Kemppinen even questioned Uusi Suomi. The critical attitude has more or less disappeared over the years, and the former gonzo-Kemppinen will not criticise his current employer.

"I have noticed that the older I get, the less I know about things for sure."

One old acquaintance first has nice things to say about Kemppinen, but then complains that he criticises reporters for asking unpleasant questions.

"I have never criticised anyone for doing that. But it is true that on bad days I may say something about an article that I shouldn't."

Kemppinen has been called Euro-Reiska

since the 1990s, when he changed the communications policy of Finland's EU representation. The officials were taught that reporters are not the enemy, but it is worthwhile to provide them with service. Kemppinen also initiated the practice of reviewing the coming week's events beforehand with reporters. Many are still envious of the Finns in Brussels, who receive more information about current events.

Does Kemppinen still possess enough revolutionary spirit to change the communications policy of the Commission?

"You need to be a realist. I only have two years at this job, and the practices of the Commission have evolved over decades. There is no time for a revolution."

Equal dissemination of information to the media

is a distant goal for the Commission at best. The Commission leaks information on coming events mainly to large representatives of the media, and depending on the Commission's own interests. For example, Kemppinen's appointment was leaked. According to Kemppinen, this practice will not change in the foreseeable future.

"Sometimes there are things that cannot be spoken about in front of 300 reporters. That would constitute a press conference, but you cannot always tell everyone about the items that are up for decisions."

Kemppinen's challenge is to make himself understood in front of hundreds of reporters, who understand the world in different ways.

"When you look down from the speaker's box, you are faced by a group of reporters from over one hundred countries, who represent different cultures and religions, and who understand, for example, the word God in completely different ways. When I started out as a reporter in Brussels, the news focused on large-scale European news. The monetary union was being built, the Soviet Union was collapsing, and a war was breaking out in Yugoslavia. Now the situation is different. There are reporters who specialise in, say, state subsidies, mergers and acquisitions, or agriculture. The agenda is much more fragmented, just like the world is, too. The challenges in communications are different."

Kemppinen does not yet know

what he will do two years from now when his term ends. Even though he is highly placed within the Union's hierarchy, he still faces the same situation as many employees with fixed-term contracts, albeit with a very good income.

"Maybe I will need to try and see whether I still have what it takes to be a reporter."

News items tend to be bad. But if Kemppinen could wish for the best possible piece of news about the EU, what would it be?

"The EU was asked to mediate in the Iraq conflict."

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.2.2003