Mr Vanhanen's announcement came after the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported that Sweden, the country holding the EU's rotating presidency, would invite one leader from each member state to next week's European council meeting.

The prime minister said he had reached an agreement over the matter with Tarja Halonen, the president, and declared the so-called two-plate dispute over.
Mr Vanhanen's announcement came after the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported that Sweden, the country holding the EU's rotating presidency, would invite one leader from each member state to next week's European council meeting.

The EU's Lisbon treaty entered into force on Tuesday, transforming the European council into an official EU institution, with profound implications for what is known in Finland as the two-plate row.

According to the Finnish constitution, as amended in 1999, the country's foreign policy is to be led by the president in cooperation with the government, with the latter, namely the prime minister, tasked with EU affairs.

The two-plate policy refers to sending both president and prime minister to European council meetings, given the difficulty of drawing the line between foreign policy and EU affairs.

President Halonen, in office since 2000, has attended nearly all EU summits.

She had said before Mr Vanhanen's announcement that she would probably attend next week's European council meeting.

The president's office said the EU summit delegation procedure had not changed and added that President Halonen intended to carry on deciding on a case-by-case basis whether to attend provided there were two invitations.

Eero Heinäluoma, a former leader of the opposition Social Democrats, said the agreement between the president and prime minister would not change established practice in any way.

Mr Heinäluoma, a staunch defender of the president's remaining powers, underlined that the parliamentary constitutional law committee had never said that only the prime minister should travel to EU summits.

Tuija Brax (green), the justice minister, said in Brussels that the constitution was "crystal clear" about the primacy of the prime minister in terms of EU summit representation.

STT