Speaking on Yle's talk show Ykkösaamu on Saturday, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she was very pleased with the government’s decision to repatriate Finnish children from the al-Hol refugee camp.
“It’s up to ministry officials to determine whether Finland will also help the mothers,” she said.
Marin emphasised that it was not up to the government to decide the fate of individual Finns living in the al-Hol refugee camp.
Earlier this week, Marin caused a political storm when she asked the opposition National Coalition Party (NCP) whether they were “ashamed” for saying that Finland should not help children at al-Hol if it also meant repatriating their mothers.
“I spoke from the heart,” she told Yle about her strong words directed at the NCP during a heated parliamentary debate. “I have spent a lot of time thinking about the fate of children at al-Hol and I wondered why the NCP decided to profile itself in this way.”
Marin also took aim at the NCP for questioning the actions of Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto as he allegedly rolled out a plan to evacuate the Finnish camp residents ahead of the government's official policy on the matter.
She said Haavisto had the full support of both the government and legislature.
“The fact that the Constitutional Law Committee is examining his actions [regarding Finns at al-Hol] is simply a part of the workings of a constitutional democracy.”
Polls: Residents have confidence in PM
Marin told Ykkösaamu that just one month ago she would not have believed that she would become premier. And now, less than two weeks into the job, media outlets have commissioned polls on how people in Finland believe Marin will manage.
Half of residents surveyed by local news conglomerate Uutissuomalainen said they believed Marin would succeed in her post. A third said they thought she would fail as prime minister and a fifth had no clear opinion. Overall, women placed more faith in Marin than men whereas respondents over the age of 70 had the most confidence in her.
Eighty-five percent of SDP members said Marin would do well as premier, compared to just 22 percent of Finns Party adherents.
The poll, which surveyed 1,000 residents, was carried out by pollster Tietoykkönen between 12 and 16 December and carried a 3.1-percentage point margin of error.
Meanwhile another poll by tabloid Ilta-Sanomat found that a narrow majority believed Marin’s cabinet would remain intact until the end of the government term.
