PREDSEDOVANJE EU 2008 EU Presidency 2008 PREDSTAVITEV ...

Headaches
Unpredictability was another
factor Sipilä had to get used to.
“We never knew the size of
delegations until the last minute
and certainly not the names.
Ministers never travel alone so if
there were 20 of them there could
easily be an extra 100 people
by way of cabinet members,
secretaries, liaison officers,
assistants. Not to mention the
media. It was a nervous time
for the hotels, too, if we didn’t
get the lists until four or five
days beforehand.”
There was a strict limit on the
number of delegates allowed into
the meeting room, announced
in advance, as was the seating
order. Colour coded badges were
issued, red, blue and yellow,
which the liaison officers took
away to allocate among their own
delegates. But inevitably more
tried to squeeze in if it was a
major meeting. “Also, especially
with plenaries, we could never be
sure of the programme,” explains
Sipilä. “We had to be on our toes
behind the door in case an
unscheduled coffee break was
announced while papers were
rewritten, which could go on for
two hours. Or the meeting may
never resume at all!”
Mealtimes were another
headache, especially working
lunches and dinners when tables
were strewn with papers and
microphones but, as Sipilä
remarks, seasoned delegates
seemed to cope with the apparent
chaos.
So additional rooms must be available. Then there was the question
of interpretation. As well as its own host of highly trained interpreters,
the EC Directorate General for Interpretation in Brussels has definitive
rules on the treatment of its people and the specification of
simultaneous interpretation booths. “If a venue’s permanent booths
were even a few centimetres too small, we had to bring in rented
booths which met the standard,” Sipilä comments. Whispered
interpretation was used in bilateral meetings.
The most important meetings she handled were the ASEM 6 Summit
in September in the Helsinki Fair Centre, attended by 1,500 delegates
from Europe and Asia, and the Foreign Ministers’ follow-up meeting of
the Barcelona Process (EUROMED) in November in Tampere. She also
assisted with the Heads of State or Government meeting in October in
Lahti and nine ministerial meetings officially termed as “informal”,
while a total of 68 meetings were organised for different government
ministers. And it needs to be borne in mind that what was going on in
Finland was only a small proportion of 3,300 EU meetings held during
that six months.
Now, after a well earned rest, Leena Sipilä says she is happy to have
her life back.
“I even had to resign from Meeting Professionals International in order
to remain neutral when selecting suppliers. But the whole thing was
an experience I would not have missed for the world.”
Angela Antrobus, Quality in Meetings; Photos: Prime Minister’s Office,
Lehtikuva
"I was very surprised to discover that governmental meetings were so
different and so complex"
Bilateral meetings
She says bilateral meetings are
growing increasingly popular,
when representatives of two
countries meet in private.
»Gasilska fotografija« z EUROMED-a. • EUROMED “family photo”.
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