Comment|The secret meeting of the President of the Republic and the government ended up being the subject of extraordinary publicity, writes HS’s political reporter Petja Pelli.
Black opening. Like a well you can’t see into.
This is how colleagues who have followed foreign policy for a long time describe the so-called tp-utva, i.e. the meeting of the president of the republic and the government’s foreign and security policy ministerial committee.
We journalists are used to the fact that almost nothing about the discussions of the confidential foreign policy meeting of the president and ministers is usually not disclosed to the public. There may be an announcement of a few sentences afterwards, which mentions some of the talking points in passing. That’s it.
Repeat was on friday.
It was already surprising that this time at least one topic of the tp-utva was known in advance: the president and the ministers wanted to go over why the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio (ps) was not told in advance by the president To Alexander Stubbthat he intends to leave Finland out of the equality coalition for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Stubb thinks it should have been reported.
It was downright rare that tp-utva was liked afterwards briefing. President Stubb and the Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) answered journalists’ questions about Finland’s foreign policy and the Tavio case.
Tavio’s decision will not be reversed, but Finland’s foreign policy line is united, they said.
A day however, the most surprising twist was yet to come.
Democrat magazine managed to get Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Christian Democrats Sari from Essayah confirmation that Essayah had left a dissenting opinion in that same tp-utva meeting regarding Finland’s voting position in the UN.
Finnish voted for itthat Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are declared illegal. In the press release sent to the media after the TP-utva, the issue was formulated as follows: “Finland strengthens its support for the UN system.”
Finland apparently confirms, Essayah does not.
Essayah’s the release is very exceptional in two ways.
First of all, it has been customary in Finland to present a unified foreign policy line even when there are arguments behind the scenes. Finland’s position on the UN had been wondered about from the ranks of the Christian Democrats before, but the minister’s stance is a completely different matter.
Second, it is very rare for a government minister to tell the media about a tp-utva disagreement. The words tp-utva and dissenting opinion usually do not appear in the same sentence in public discussion. Tp-utva is not a municipal council meeting whose minutes can be read by anyone afterwards.
The case is embarrassing for both Orpo and Stubb. The minister underlined the fragmentation of the government’s Middle East line to the media just hours after the prime minister and the president had tried to assure that it was unified.
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