Former Finnish EU Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen, who recently left her post to stand as the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, is not faring so well with voters, a EuropeElects projection commissioned by Euractiv ahead of the elections at the end of January shows.
On 28 January, Finns will head to the ballot boxes to elect their future president among the nine candidates currently vying for the position.
After leaving her post in December, Urpilainen launched her campaign for the Finnish presidency under the banner of the Finnish Social Democratic Party (S&D). She took an “unpaid leave” with “the “option of returning” to the European executive if her candidacy is unsuccessful.
Besides her substantial experience in government as finance minister and deputy prime minister, many in her party praised Urpilainen’s extensive experience in international affairs and commitment to social justice, which she has made a central theme under the slogan “Leave no one behind”.
However, according to a EuropeElects poll commissioned by Euractiv, the former commissioner is far from convincing in the eyes of her compatriots, with only 7% of voters backing her, far behind former Green foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (25%) and the favourite, former prime minister Alexander Stubb of the ruling National Coalition party (27%).
By comparison, Urpilainen would get half the support of Jussi Halla-aho, the Finns Party candidate (who sits in the far-right Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament) (14%).
With her decision, Urpilainen joined a list of European Commissioners jumping off the EU ship for the apparent safety of the shores of national politics as Commission President von der Leyen’s term is to end with the upcoming June 2024 elections.
Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager, who stepped down from her competition portfolio in September to campaign for the European Investment Bank (EIB) presidency but has now resumed her duties after losing out to Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calviño.
Other now-former commissioners have recently stepped down from their EU posts to focus on national politics, with former Culture Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, now Bulgaria’s foreign minister, and former EU Green Deal commissioner Frans Timmermans, now leader of the Dutch opposition, having respectively resigned in May and August last year.
While Bulgaria’s Iliana Ivanova has since taken over from Gabriel in the European Commission, former Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has been at the helm of the climate action after Timmermans announced his candidacy for the Dutch general election on 22 November.
(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)
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Source: euractiv.com
