President Alexander Stubb on Tuesday criticised the Finland´s decision taken by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio to not join a gender-equality alliance for rebuilding of Ukraine.
Talking to journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the President also said that Finland´s foreign policy defends gender and sexual minorities as per the principles of the country, local media reported.
Tavio of Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), the second largest component of the four-party alliance government, took Finland out of the alliance as it intends to promote the causes of gender and sexual minorities.
Pointing out the existing contradictions among the ruling parties, the President hoped that such mistake by the ministry should not be taken place in future.
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in parliament and Chair of Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) Antti Lindtman also criticised the minister and the four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) for not joining the gender-equality alliance.
Speaking at the plenary session in the parliament on Tuesday the opposition leader said that despite having a clear foreign policy of Finland, the minister took the decision as the alliance promotes gender and sexual minorities issues.
“Unfortunately, it seems that the Perussuomalaiset once again is controlling the government. What is particularly worrying is that, in fact, such decisions weaken Finland's foreign policy line,” said the SDP leader.
He said that Finland should not send a contradictory message about supporting Ukraine and threw a question to the Prime Minister, whether the government would review the decision in this regard.
Earlier, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that he was aware of Finland´s decision of withdrawal from Ukraine equality alliance taken by Tavio.
He said that he did not make any decision in this regard as it was under jurisdiction of Tavio.
Leaders of the opposition parties in parliament strongly criticised the government decision of withdrawal from alliance.
The SDP is also planning to submit a no-confidence motion in the parliament against Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio, according to a SDP parliamentary group leader Tytti Tuppurainen.
The "Alliance for Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Recovery" was launched at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on 12 June 2024 in Berlin.
Spearheaded by UN Women Ukraine in collaboration with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Alliance aims to ensure that gender equality and women's empowerment are central to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction efforts.
At the initial stage, it has brought together 15 governments, major IFIs, UN agencies, the EU, and numerous partners from civil society and the private sector.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi