Social Democrats lash out against Foreign Minister Stubb over handling of ties with USA

Foreign Minister says US relations were neglected by previous government

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Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) angered the Social Democratic opposition on Thursday when he said during Parliamentary question time that Finland’s relations with the United States were in bad shape for several years during the previous electoral term.
      Stubb initially got some indirect criticism from Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi (Centre), who asserted that the relationship with the USA had been in good standing during the previous electoral term as well.
      The Prime Minister noted that Stubb was out of Finland as a Member of the European Parliament at the time.
      At a later point in the debate, Kiviniemi acknowledged there had been some problems at the personal level.
     
MP Erkki Tuomioja (SDP), who served as Foreign Minister in the previous government, lashed out at Stubb, saying that his assessment was “shocking”.
      He noted that in the previous electoral term, the war in Iraq had created tension between the United States and all of Europe.
      The exchange was sparked by a question from Social Democratic MP Kimmo Kiljunen, who wanted to know if the credibility of Finland’s foreign policy line was in danger as a result of discussions between National Coalition Party figures and US diplomats, as was recently reported by Wikileaks (see linked articles).
      Kiljunen took up the views expressed by Stubb’s aide Jori Arvonen concerning the NATO statements by the National Coalition Party.
     
Stubb showed flexibility and speed in the discussion.
      First he suggested that relations had been neglected in the past, and after a deluge of criticism, he said that he could not say that relations between the countries were in poor shape, and that he might also have been speaking about relations on a personal level.
      This brought accusations of his being a flip-flopper.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mission Impossible: Finland´s 15-year standoff over NATO (8.2.2011)
  WIKILEAKS: Finland reported copiously to the Americans on dealings with Russian leaders (11.2.2011)
  Foreign Minister Tuomioja viewed with suspicion; Halonen respected, but seen as anti-American (11.2.2011)

See also:
  National Coalition Party promised Finland would join NATO (11.2.2011)
  Election upset in 2007 brought a dream-team government for the US (11.2.2011)

Helsingin Sanomat