Tuppurainen spoke to the media in connection with his hearing that lasted more than two hours in the parliament’s trade committee.
He did not comment on how the negotiations have progressed and what a possible agreement might look like, and reiterated that the negotiations are still at a sensitive stage. He added that committee members now have access to all information in his possession, including inside information, meaning they also have limited opportunities to discuss the situation publicly.
The Finnish state owns 51 percent of Fortum. The majority-owned energy company of the state, on the other hand, owns 78 percent of Uniper, which suffers daily losses of tens of millions of euros due to Russia’s limited natural gas.
A plan to save the struggling company must be found in the next few days, or weeks at the most, to prevent it from becoming insolvent.
Tuppurainen said that Fortum is a strategically interesting company in electricity production in Finland.
“We want to make sure that the company can continue to operate profitably, that our values as owners are preserved and that this arrangement does not cause additional, unnecessary costs for Finnish taxpayers,” he commented, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Before the committee hearing, he assessed that the company made the right decision given the circumstances to support its subsidiary with a credit line of eight billion euros in January. Uniper has already drawn almost the entire loan, so the arrangement will probably result in losses for the parent company.
“The company’s board and executive management bear responsibility for the subsidiary’s difficulties,” Tuppurainen summed up.
Sanni Grahn-Laasonen The Chairman of the Parliament’s Commerce Committee (NCP) stated before the session that the committee is seeking clarification on how the interests of taxpayers are protected and what kind of agreement could be reached to minimize the impact on taxpayers. He emphasized that Finnish taxpayers should not have to pay for energy policy mistakes made in Germany.
“The question is who is going to pay for this,” he assessed and estimated that the situation was caused by three factors.
“The first of these is the war that Lieut [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Another reason is the incorrect choices of Germany’s energy policy. The third reason is the Uniper deal made by Fortum’s management,” said Grahn-Laasonen.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page
