Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin gives up a "food allowance" that angered her opponents
The Finnish Prime Minister announced, on Tuesday, that she has completely given up taking breakfast allowance at her official residence, in an attempt to end the controversy roiling the atmosphere in her campaign for local elections.
Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin has also pledged to pay about 14,000 euros for expenses related to the family's food since arriving at the official residence in Kisaranta a year and a half ago.
"I have other work tasks to do besides spending the day checking things like my family's food," Marin, 35, said in a television interview.
Sanna Marin has faced criticism from the opposition since the local newspaper, Ilalehti, recently revealed that the prime minister receives 300 euros a month in food allowance. The amount amounts to 850 euros per month, with the calculation of the value of some cold foods, according to the newspaper.
Critics of the prime minister say that using public funds to cover these expenses is a violation of Finnish law, which does not explicitly note her.
And Finnish police announced, on Friday, that they had opened an investigation into the matter with the launch of tax surveys to find out whether the Prime Minister had to pay additional taxes for these benefits.
"I did not ask for this privilege as prime minister, nor did I participate in the decision related to it," Marin added.
Sanna Marin, who came to power in December 2019, enjoys a high level of public support for her management of the Covid-19 epidemic crisis in Finland, one of the least affected countries in Europe.
However, opinion polls for the June 13 municipal elections indicate a strong presence of the opposition, especially the extreme right.
AFP
