You, who have suffered attacks for being in politics, what would you say to a young woman who wanted to get into politics and is afraid of attacks? “You are capable, you are strong, you can change the world, do it,” Sanna Marin replied to journalists. The Finnish Prime Minister has spoken this Tuesday in the plenary session of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, to participate in a debate on the European Union, in which the attacks recently suffered by the right-wing opposition and conservative media in her country for a broadcast of a personal video in which he appeared dancing with some friends. The campaign grew so much that she was even accused of having used drugs, which led her to take a test, which she tested negative, to try to stop the attacks. “We are not just women representing one gender, we do real politics, making big decisions, regardless of our gender and our age,” said the Finnish Prime Minister in plenary.
“You are a brave woman”, the president of the Socialists in the European Parliament, Iratxe García, told her, “it is brave women like you who forge the future and end up learning it in history books”.
RELATED
The prime minister has avoided entering into the attacks she has suffered in her country during the debate. What’s more, some MEPs wanted to do a kind of dance or some act to show their support for the Finnish Prime Minister, but the initiative was shelved because she wanted to focus her intervention on specific policies along the lines of the interventions of other heads of government in the European Parliament.
However, the issue has crept into the debate, and she has stated at the end of her speech: “I am happy because in Finland a government led by five women has carried out a very progressive policy against the crisis, and has addressed large reforms in Finnish society, on family leave, compulsory schooling in Finland, the pandemic and a historic health reform. We are not just women representing one gender, we do real politics, making big decisions, regardless of our gender and our age.
During the debate, Marin also spoke about the priority issues on the European agenda: the energy crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Regarding the first, she has defended the commitment to renewables and taking urgent measures to cut prices with a view to winter and Russian gas cuts. As for the war, as a result of which Finland has asked to join NATO, she has been in favor of the sanctions policy, while at the same time she has defended helping Ukraine to defeat Russia.
“Putin is going to lose the war”, said Marin in the plenary: “Ukraine is going to win, Russia is going to be poorer and we are going to be members of NATO: ”Energy is our main challenge, also facing the coming years. We have carried out an energy transition, diversified, betting on renewable energies and taking advantage of nuclear. We are self-sufficient, and the whole of Europe has to take action to get rid of fossil fuels. We have to recognize the mistakes made as Europe“.
On the other hand, Martin hanseatic, quasi-frugalhas spoken out against the reform of the treaties and has defended compliance with the rules of the European Semester – economic governance of the EU.
