“We are facing an energy crisis, and you, the government, are not on top of the situation.” Riikka PurraChairman of Basic Finns, According to Helsingin Sanomat.
Purra criticizes the government in particular for building its energy policy on wind power: “I wonder if the vision is that every night employees should look at the wind forecast for the next morning to know if there will be energy at their workplace or not. Our society cannot act or not act based on whether the day is calm or windy.
“Electricity storage solutions are still in their infancy, so we need adjustment power to respond to changes in consumption. Energy policy should be based on physics, not on beliefs or ideology, Purra said.
Peter Ostman (CD) targeted the government for its “inability” to champion renewable bioenergy in the European Union. – The view of the Christian Democrats is that the government is incapable, contradictory and unwilling to defend the important renewable bioenergy for Finland in the EU negotiations, he stated.
In his response, Marin questioned the claims made in the interpellation, stressing that the rise in energy prices is the result of the dependence on fossil fuels that the war of aggression has exposed for Russian wages in Ukraine.
“The increased household electricity prices and the erosion of purchasing power are not fundamentally caused by the questions raised in the interpellation about the EU’s authority, carbon neutrality goals or the government’s recent ownership control policy decisions,” he reasoned. .
The Prime Minister said that the government is open to the possibility of introducing a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies, but it will stick to the climate goals set in its action plan.
“In the midst of an energy crisis, it should be possible to find out all possible forms of energy and solutions in the short term. For example, the possibility of using peat as a fuel for security of supply is secured.
He also admitted that in retrospect it is possible to question some of the strategic choices of the board and management of Fortum, the parent company majority-owned by the Finnish state of Uniper, Germany’s largest natural gas importer.
“Because its business relies on Russian natural gas, Uniper ran into serious difficulties that required outside help just months after the start of the war in Ukraine.”
The coalition did not support the interpellation because it intends to present its own government’s handling of the Uniper crisis. Pia Kauma (NCP) said that the opposition party is not convinced that the government did everything it could to defend Finland’s interests last summer.
“Why did the Prime Minister settle for dealing with issues via text messages instead of using his power by traveling to Berlin to defend the interests of Finnish taxpayers and investors?” asked Kauma.
Parliament will vote on the motion of no confidence on Friday.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page
