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FINLAND’S PRIME MINISTER came under sustained criticism after it was revealed she stayed out dancing until the early hours on the weekend despite knowing she had been exposed to Covid-19.
Sanna Marin, 36, apologised on Monday after a gossip magazine published photos of her attending a Helsinki nightclub on Saturday night until almost four in the morning, hours after her Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto tested positive for coronavirus.
“My husband and I… had been out to eat, been shopping in town, seen friends and also spent time [enjoying] the evening and nightlife,” the Social Democrat leader wrote on Facebook.
She added that she was told by an official that the coronavirus guidelines did not require her to isolate, despite having been in contact with an infected person.
“I should have used better judgement and double-checked the guidance given to me. I am very sorry for not understanding that I needed to do that,” Marin wrote.
A poll commissioned by TV channel MTV3 found that two-thirds of respondents thought Marin’s night out was a “serious mistake”.
Opposition parties also slammed Marin for potentially breaking official Covid guidelines and for missing a later text message warning her to isolate.
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Finance Minister Annika Saarikko from the Centre Party, the ruling coalition partner, stopped short of criticising Marin directly.
However, Saarikko told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that she was “glad I was at home” when she received the text message to isolate, adding that she had cancelled her plans for the next day.
Finland has sustained some of Europe’s lowest incidences of the virus throughout the pandemic, recording more than 196,000 cases and 1,384 deaths in the country of 5.5 million.
However infections are now at an all-time high, with 308 new cases per 100,000 population in the last fortnight. The country has also recorded eight cases of the new Omicron variant.
On Monday, magazine Seiska reported that Marin was seen in the Butchers nightclub in Helsinki, dancing with friends until nearly four.
Marin, who became the world’s youngest prime minister when appointed in 2019, has previously been the target of criticism over parties at her official residence and social media posts in which she poses with friends or appears to promote fashion accessories.
In October she responded to critics with an Instagram post quoting a Finnish pop song that said: “Hey boom-boom-boomer, put some ice in your hat and cool it.”
“I’m a representative of the younger generation,” she later told broadcaster Yle, “and yes, that’s reflected in the way I do my work and how I live,” Marin said.
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@Vonvonic: Polarity is important as understanding it lets you know where your countries relationships are and should be, multi-polarity means Ireland are likely to be drawn into the middle of multiple centres of power’s arguments. That’s a massive risk, for example right now France and the UK have a major dispute in relation to fishing agreements, Ireland and the UK actually have shared a common opinion on it for the past 40 years but now Ireland is aligned to France in this area through the EU and most joes on the street will say “da Brits are always wrong” but we may have more to gain from the UK winning the argument – either way Ireland will now be pulled hither and thither. Multi-polarity is a massive risk, especially when the Center of power is not aligned to your benefit… is the EU?
@Madra: Yes, when he goes polarity will automatically be solved, nurses will grow on trees, as will lorry drivers and builders, economic scarring won’t cause a recession because the global market will understand that Michael Martin was in fact the real reason for the pandemic and magically Ireland will grow a reasonable political party that our biggest economic partners can work with out of the countries ar5e. Or the next leaders will all be the same because the same people are voting… Lowry will still top Tipp, The eejits will still top Kerry, people will still drive parish pump, populism will continue to grow and Ireland will have a load of parties with around 15/20% of the vote that can’t agree for the next 2 decades and nothing will change while they all point fingers at each other.
The largest risk to Ireland is the incompetence of our current leaders closely followed by the naked popularism of those poised to replace them. If ever a country was screaming out for change, it is modern Ireland, but where will change come from.
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