Energy | “Reasonable negotiation result”, “This is a terrible blow” – This is how the party leaders commented on Fortum’s Uniper agreement

Fortum sell to the German state of its German subsidiary Uniper with 500 million euros. Fortum will get back from Uniper the eight billion euro financing they granted it in January.

Although Fortum gets back the money it borrowed and guaranteed, it suffers the biggest losses in Finnish economic history.

In the exam organized in connection with the economic defense course, the chairmen of the six largest parties commented on the agreement and its significance for Finland.

“Fortunately, a reasonable negotiation result has been achieved,” he said Sanna Marin (sd) in the exam.

Marin emphasized Fortum’s role as a critical player in the Finnish energy market, which is why the company’s operating conditions must be secured.

“Fortum has taken unnecessarily big risks in the past, which have now materialized,” Marin said.

According to the parties, the Finnish government has not been involved in the latest negotiations, but the matter has been agreed between Fortum, Uniper and the German government. According to Marin, the economic political ministerial committee discussed the matter three times last week, when the committee was given information about what is happening in the negotiations.

According to Marin, the most important of the conditions set by the Finnish government for the negotiations was that Fortum’s eight billion euro financing be returned to Uniper.

“This is not a victorious day for Finland – on the contrary, this was a very repulsive whole,” commented the central Annika Saarikko Fortum’s situation.

Saarikko reminded that Fortum also faces a withdrawal from Russia, which is still in progress.

“Looking ahead, the most important thing is that the disengagement from Russia happens quickly and in a controlled manner. Fortum is not just any company, but has a significant responsibility in the Finnish energy field,” said Saarikko.

Basic Finns Riikka Purra says that the July negotiations on Uniper’s rescue package were the most unsuccessful in Finland’s history. However, the agreement made now replaces the one from July.

“The fact that Fortum gets its loan back is required by law, it should not be celebrated as any kind of victory. Fortum will have significant losses from Uniper and the Russian adventures, which will be reflected in write-downs. Hopefully, the state will not need to capitalize Fortum, but we don’t know about this either yet,” said Purra.

“There is this terrible bang.”

On Tuesday, Perusfinomaket submitted its interim question together with the Christian Democrats and the movement Nyti. In their interim question, the parties demanded answers from the government regarding, for example, the operation of the energy market, the price of electricity and the government’s Fortum policy.

The coalition’s parliamentary group, on the other hand, intends to submit its own motion of no confidence to the government regarding the situation of the energy company Uniper.

In the exam there was also a general discussion about the ownership control of the Finnish state. The center Hanna Kosonen tweeted on Wednesday that “The state should not own strategically important listed companies. Owner control does not work in listed companies. Strategically important companies, such as electricity networks, should be fully owned.”

The center’s chairman Saarikko stated that, in the longer term, it is necessary to think about which issues are strategically important objects in which the state must be involved as an owner.

“It is about time that this [Fortumin] the matter can be clarified, look ahead and think about what kind of role such companies will get. This will definitely be considered within the government,” said Saarikko.

The coalition Petteri Orpo would be ready to reform the state’s ownership policy as a whole.

“It is clear that in the next season the ownership policy must be reviewed and renewed. It is important to think about what the state should own in the first place,” says Orpo.

Also the green ones Maria Ohisalo is along the lines that ownership management must be reviewed in its entirety and consider what strategic interest of the state the companies serve.

“I would openly look at the whole,” Ohisalo said.

Purra, also from the basic Finns, is of the opinion that in terms of ownership control, you have to think about what makes sense.

“A situation in which a state-owned company makes bad decisions and the government says that we had no information about this must not happen again.”