The Finnish Prime Minister today reported back to the European Parliament on Friday's European Council summit. This European Council was neither historic nor punctuated by spectacular disagreements. Yes, even Summit meetings can be boring!

The Finnish Prime Minister, Vanhanen (not to be confused with Dan Hannan, Tory Eurosceptic!) mentioned his regrets that the European Council did not agree to switch from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) on the issue of co-operation on fighting crime - a proposal which was blocked, among others, by Germany and Britain. He said if you want effective decision-taking in the EU, then it was necessary to have QMV. To have 27 vetoes round the table and still expect to emerge with a sensible policy is obviously difficult. Indeed, a good example had just been given a few days before, when Poland alone vetoed a decision which Britain was rather keen on, namely establishing a system whereby prisoners can be transferred to their own countries to serve their sentences. As Britain has a relatively large number of foreign prisoners, it is in our interest to get them out of our overcrowded jails and let them serve their sentences at home (and at their home countries expense). Yet because of the veto system, Poland was able to block something that every other country agreed to.

Vanhanen was interesting in another sense - the evolution of Finland's position. Historically, Finland was a deeply Eurosceptic country, keeping out of the European Union and even the Council of Europe for many years. When it eventually joined in the mid 1990s it was initially cautious. Yet now, it is an enthusiastic participant in the European Union, has joined the euro (within which its economic performance is even better than Britain's), has joined the Schengen area of passport free travel within Europe and supports more majority voting in the Council of Ministers. Last week it also ratified the European Constitution.

Perhaps we should send some of Britain's Eurosceptics to Finland?