Chairman of the parliamentary group of the largest opposition party SDP Titti Tuppurainen wondering about the actions of the state leadership at the recent British summit.
“The president of the Republic by Alexander Stubb participating in the meeting of the European Political Community (EPY) in Britain instead of the prime minister is a special deviation,” Tuppurainen says on the X messaging service.
The issue was brought up earlier by an SDP member of the large committee responsible for EU affairs Elisa Gebhardt In the evening newspaper. Chairman of the Grand Committee Heikki Autto (kok) told Iltalehti that the reason for Stubb’s participation was scheduling reasons. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) is currently on vacation.
“The decision has been explained with scheduling reasons. The explanation is not valid: it is not known in which position Prime Minister Orpo was on July 18, when the meeting was held. It is not known whether the Government decided on the deputyship or whether it was discussed,” says Tuppurainen.
The State Council by Prime Minister Orpo has also been on vacation on July 18.
Is not valid.
Stubb’s representation is justified for scheduling reasons. “The explanation doesn’t work,” says Tytti Tuppurainen. Tuppurainen in the picture at the Kultaranta discussions earlier this year.
PHOTO: Roosa Bröijer
Tuppurainen points out that Finland has been represented by the prime minister in all three previous EPY meetings.
“There has been talk about the coalition’s color in foreign policy. Ease does not entitle us to agree on the representation of Finland among our own people. The parliament needs to know where the decision on representation was made and why the parliament’s information was ignored,” insists Tuppurainen.
The President of the Republic, Stubb, has so far not been reached to comment on the subject.
Heikki Autto admits in Iltalehti that the summit in question was an exception. Normally, Finland’s representative would have been the prime minister.
With the entry into the Constitution, foreign policy is led by the President of the Republic in cooperation with the Government Council. However, the Prime Minister leads Finland’s EU policy.
In past years, there was a “plate dispute” about Finland’s representation at the EU summits. The end result was that Finland is represented at the EU summits by the prime minister.