NATO membership would further deepen the relationship between Finland and Hungary, Matti Vanhanen wrote to László Kövér.Continue reading
Finnish MEP Teuvo Hakkarainen told newspaper Ilta Sanomat (IS) that he posted a tweet in support of the Hungarian Fidesz government party’s membership to the European Conservatives and Reformists group, which he says the party secretary ordered him to delete.
The Eurosceptic Center-Right True Finns MEP Teuvo Hakkarainen said on Monday that he still intends to stand in the June European elections. His statement had caused some confusion, as Harri Vuorenpää, party secretary of the Finns for Finland, told IS that the Finns’ party government will not nominate Hakkarainen as a candidate in the European elections. The True Finns secretary had quoted “internal party” matters as a reason behind the decision.
Hakkarainen informed IS that the party secretary had called him, but at first he did not believe it was the real party secretary of the Finns. Later, he told the newspaper that “He was probably the party secretary who called. As I recall, he said that you cannot stand as a party candidate,” Hakkarainen stated. According to the politician, the party secretary told him to delete the post he had published on X (Twitter) on Saturday.
“For my part, I say that the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz is welcome in the ECR group. I have watched with admiration as Hungary fights back against the EU dictatorship. Finland must adopt a similar line. Every EU country has the right to its own foreign policy.”
Kaksilla rattailla on turvallisempaa? pic.twitter.com/Ngr91Fcfrm
— Janne Hirvonen (@JanneHirvonen2) February 24, 2024
According to Hakkarainen, the post was on X for an hour at most. “The party secretary referred to my update and said that under no circumstances can you stand as a candidate in the party’s European elections. The reason was anti-party activities,” Hakkarainen recalled. The Finnish MEP justified his position by pointing out that the ECR Group in the European Parliament is made up mostly of Italians. “If the fundamentalists are in the ECR next term, and the Italians are the largest group there, and they accept Fidesz there, there is nothing we can do about it. They can still say in good time that the Finns will walk out of the group if we oppose the admission of Fidesz to the group. I was trying to lay the groundwork for the next term,” Hakkarainen argues.
Mr. Hakkarainen had defended himself against accusations of being “anti-party.” “What if I am too Euro-critical? I have been on that line since I entered parliament in 2011. I have been of the same opinion all along. If I have acted against the party, why was I not told? The party secretary would have said, ‘Do not do that.’ No one has said anything,” IS quoted the True Finns MEP.
Finns party secretary Vuorenpää informed IS that Mr. Hakkarainen will not be among the EP candidates for the next election. “The reasons are internal party matters. We will not make them public,” Vuorenpää said.
Speaker Halla-aho addressed the Ukrainian Parliament today and met among others President Zelenskyi of Ukraine.
Puhemies Halla-aho puhui tänään Ukrainan parlamentille ja tapasi mm. Ukrainan presidentti Zelenskyin.@ZelenskyyUa @Halla_aho
Kuva: Ukrainan presidentinkanslia pic.twitter.com/f4SPo8JibD— Perussuomalaiset (@persut) November 25, 2023
It is unclear whether his removal from the party’s list of candidates is in fact directly related to the said tweet; if so, was it his support for Fidesz, or his position on the EU that had caused his party leadership to lose trust in him? However, the leader of the Finns Party Jussi Halla-aho was part of a Finnish delegation to Ukraine in November last year, and as we understand, the Hungarian government’s position on the war in Ukraine could be one of the sticking points clouding relations between the two national-conservative political movements.
Via Ilta Sanomat; Featured Image: Facebook Teuvo Hakkarainen