Dear Mr. Orpo
Normally I would be happy and proud to welcome a prime minister from another Nordic country here in the European Parliament.
But today I am not.
Instead I am disappointed, sad, and honestly angry – to have to welcome a Nordic Prime Minister that is leading a charge against social and trade union rights in his own country.
Mr. Prime Minister, the topic of today is This is Europe.
And I have one thing to tell you:
The Europe you represent Mr. Orpo is not the Europe I want.
The Europe you represent Mr. Orpo, is not the Europe I want
And more importantly, it is definitely not the Europe the citizens need.
What you are doing is clearly wrong.
Because you are undermining what makes a Nordic welfare state strong.
Your government want to make it easier to fire people,
And at the same time, you want to cut social welfare and protection.
This will harm workers and their families.
Yet sadly it doesn’t stop there.
At the same time, you try to undermine the Finnish system of collective bargaining.
At the same time, you try to undermine the Finnish system of collective bargaining
A collective bargaining system we on a European level aim to increase, you are actively trying to suppress.
That is shameful.
As if that was not enough, you also want to limit the freedom of people to go on strike and protest your policies.
But Prime minister, when Finnish people protest you in the streets, the solution is not to take away their possibility to strike.
Instead you should stop, reflect and listen!
Mr. Orpo, the Europe you represent is clearly a Europe for the few.
A Europe that does not take care of our citizens and the planet.
Instead, it runs away from responsibility,
Sadly we have seen it before.
Whenever the Right governs with the Far Right, the picture is the same
Whenever the Right governs with the Far Right, the picture is the same:
Those that claim to speak for the common man, quickly betray him.
Those that say they have the ordinary workers interest and concerns at heart, quickly and brutally betray her.
And that is exactly what is happening in Finland.
This is why your people is protesting you.
Dear Mr. Orpo
This is Europe,
And what you provide is definitely not the Europe we want.
Mr. Orpo
This is Europe.
It should be a Europe for the many, not just a Europe for the wealthy few.
It should be a Europe for the many, not just a Europe for the wealthy few
Mentions of the speech
1. Finnish National Radio & TV
2. Finnish National Radio & TV in Swedish
3. Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
5. KU magazine
9. Tweet about the speech from Finnish Left Alliance leader Li Andersson.
10. Nikolaj Villumsen’s own tweet with the speech.
