When negotiations get thorny Finnish businessmen and politicians often turn up the heat, holding crunch talks in a sauna. But "sauna diplomacy" is on the decline due to demands for efficiency and the rising number of women in the halls of power.
While still a national pastime, "saunas are less common now in politics and business, due to lack of time," said Maria Romantschuk, the spokeswoman for Finland's female president Tarja Halonen.
"People who are in senior positions in politics and especially in business are more likely to be technocrats today than they were 30 years ago," when grass roots politics was more common, said Olli Rehn, the Finnish EU enlargement commissioner who is a big fan of saunas.
PHOTO: AFP
"Europeans often think that 'sauna diplomacy' is a form of torture. That's wrong. It's an act of reflection and relaxation. And it's excellent to negotiate without any pressure," he said.
But Rehn conceded that with increasingly "more emphasis on gender equality" in politics, the custom was no longer always possible. "It is difficult to organise a sauna for men on one side and women on the other."
A sauna in Finland is typically taken in the nude, so men and women take separate saunas. Mixed saunas exist but only among close friends and family.
"In one of my previous jobs I was the only woman attending management meetings, so I always had to find something else to do when the men were in the sauna. And then sometimes it happened that I afterwards heard that they had agreed on something in the sauna," said Kirsi Seppalainen, a senior business executive.
However, "I think this is changing," she added. (AFP)
當談判變得棘手時，芬蘭的政商界人物往往火上加油，在芬蘭浴中舉行關鍵會談。不過，由於對效率的要求與女性掌權人數增加，「芬蘭浴外交」逐漸式微。
芬蘭女總統塔莉雅．哈洛寧的發言人瑪莉亞．羅曼莎克女士指出，雖然芬蘭浴仍是全國性的休閒，「但現在因為沒時間 ，所以在政商界較少見了」。
熱愛芬蘭浴的芬蘭歐盟擴張專員歐里．瑞恩指出，「相較於三十年前，現在的政界高層，特別是商界高層，多是技術官僚」，三十年前的草根性政治較普遍。
他說︰「歐洲人民往往視『芬蘭浴外交』為一種折磨。它其實是一種反省與放鬆的活動。在無壓力下談判棒極了。」
不過瑞恩坦承，隨著政治「更強調性別平等」，這樣的習俗不再一直沿用。「很難安排男性坐一邊、女性坐一邊的芬蘭浴。」
傳統芬蘭浴都是裸體入浴，所以男女分開。男女共浴也有，但只限親朋好友。
高階企業主管寇西．莎帕蕾南說︰「我以前待過一家公司，我是唯一參加管理會議的女性，所以男人在洗芬蘭浴時，我總得找別的事做。有時就會發生我事後才得知他們在浴中達成協議的事。」
不過，她也說，「我認為時代在變」。
（法新社/翻譯：賴美君）
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