Sir Stephen Wall: Antti Satuli was one of the EU’s unsung heros
European Voice
Volume 9 Number 16
1 May 2003
The Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) where he and I were colleagues for five years, is a place where deals get done. We are all there to promote our national interest and to reach agreement. We all wrestle with impossible instructions from our capitals. We like to think we are clever people, and tend to show off a bit.
Antti was cleverer than most, but he never showed off. Not because he thought it better tactics not to he was simply confident enough not to need to. He advanced Finland's case sparely, firmly, and with humour. He was a problem-solver, not a problem-maker. He was one of those people who could think of the ingenious way through that allowed a compromise to be reached.
Antti's chairmanship of Coreper during the Finnish presidency was his finest hour. He could have herded cats. He certainly herded us, without our realising it. He could do it because he knew the business of the Union to his fingertips, because he was a good strategist and tactician who kept his cool, and, above all, because he was a thoroughly decent human being.
Antti and his wife, Marjatta, were popular colleagues. His legacy to his country and to the Union will live on. But how we all wish we still had Antti himself among us.
Sir Stephen Wall kcmg lvo
Head of the European Secretariat, Cabinet Office
10 Downing Street, London
(UK Permanent Representative to the
European Union, 1995-2000)