Member of Parliament for Liike Nyt Harry “Hjallis” Harkimo demands that the Prime Minister Sanna Marinin (sd) must interrupt his vacation and convene the board because of the situation at Fortum.
“There is a gas crisis in Germany and as a result the German government plans to partially nationalize Uniper, which is owned by Fortum. This arrangement involves billions of euros of Finnish taxpayers’ money. The board cannot watch this from the sidelines and evade responsibility by transferring it only to the company’s management,” Harkimo states in his press release.
The state owns 51 percent of Fortum and Fortum owns 78 percent of Uniper. Harkimo reminds that Fortum paid seven billion euros for Uniper and has now loaned and is guaranteeing the company eight billion euros.
“Now it’s about 15 billion euros!”, he emphasizes in his Puheenvuoron blog.
According to Harkimo, the Prime Minister must immediately contact the German Chancellor Olaf Scholziin and open the highest level negotiations between the countries.
“The German democratic government does not want to make gas prices payable by consumers and industry. When the purchasing power of Germans crumbles and the gross domestic product drops, the government’s popularity also evaporates, and Scholz doesn’t want that. And then Finland and Finnish taxpayers will pay the bill,” he predicts.
Party secretary of the Basic Finns Arto Luukkanen demands Sanna Marini to tell the parliament directly and clearly what the government intends to do about the matter in her own Puheenvoorton blog.
“Where does the government plan to get the money to capitalize Fortum, i.e. to support it,” he asks in his open letter to the prime minister.
Minister of owner guidance Titti Tuppurainen (sd) commented on the matter on Friday by emphasizing that the Finnish state does not control Uniper as an owner.
“Even though Fortum owns the majority of Uniper, it is Fortum that, in turn, controls Uniper,” he told Yle.