The Finnish Parliament narrowly ratified on Tuesday the European recovery plan of 750 billion euros, intended to cope with the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is the 22nd Member State to give the green light.
In April, the institution had sown the beginning of panic in Brussels, the deputies having decided that the ratification of the plan would require a qualified majority of two thirds, making more difficult the green light of Helsinki and opening the scenario of a blockage of the agreement.
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Finally, of the 200 deputies in the assembly, 134 voted in favor of the plan on Tuesday, fearing mostly European reprisals if the Nordic country were to derail the project.
During the debates, an attempt to obstruct the Finns party delayed the vote by a week, but the group failed to have the decision postponed any further.
The populist and nationalist formation had notably pointed to a comment by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, affirming that such a plan could again emerge in the future, before going back on his remarks, ensuring that the measure would be "
unique
".
22 member states have already ratified the recovery plan
"
If, in practice, we are forced to accept each ad hoc measure, then the term" punctual "no longer has any meaning,
" however denounced the leader of the True Finns party, Jussi Halla-aho, in Parliament. .
The recovery plan, endowed with 750 billion euros in total, is financed by unprecedented common debt, but the decision allowing the European Commission to borrow on the markets has yet to be ratified by all Member States.
With the Finnish green light, the national parliaments of 22 Member States have ratified the agreement.
But only one country can block the loan and therefore the plan.
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Without having officially been part of the club of "
frugal
" (Austria, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands) who had resisted the recovery plan, Finland and its young Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin had posted a line close to the small group during the difficult negotiations of July 2020. To date, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania have yet to ratify the plan.