Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) maintains Parliament’s confidence when MEPs voted 101-68 to support him in his actions to discriminate against an official who disagreed with him about the repatriation of Finnish children from Syria’s Al-Hol camp.
Haavisto had asked for it Pasi Tuominen, a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be assigned new duties.
Tuominen disagreed with the Minister when planning a relief operation for Finnish children at the Al-Hol camp, where women and children who had lived in the Syrian-controlled areas of Isis live.
Following complaints from MPs from the National Coalition, the Party and the Christian Democratic Party, Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs – a body of members of parliament carrying out some of the functions of the Constitutional Court – launched an inquiry.
In his testimony to the committee, Haavisto had said that there were disagreements about Finnish orphans in Syria.
"Manager [Tuominen] said that it is good for orphans to be in the area when they have been temporarily spent with foster families," said Haavisto. "And said their fathers could still be alive, we don’t know if they’re really orphans."
Documents published in connection with the investigation show that Tuominen had also raised concerns about the safety of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel sent to the camp.
Despite his reservations, Haavisto appointed a special envoy to lead the repatriation operation, and several women and children eventually returned to Finland.
Haavisto had then sought to appoint him ambassador to Sofia, noting that Tuominen had previously sought roles as ambassador and that this could be a “win-win” situation.
The investigation eventually concluded that Haavisto had acted in violation of administrative law, but not intentionally or aggravatingly, and should therefore not be prosecuted.
Nevertheless, members of the opposition called for a vote of confidence to express their opposition to the minister.
The Foreign Minister had already taken a vote of confidence in December 2019 and won a vote of 110-79.
Haavisto ran for president in 2012 and 2018, coming in second on both occasions. He is generally expected to move again in 2024.