Lipponen particularly criticised the work of EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
“What point is there in having a so-called President of the European Council, if he is unable to open his mouth when European values are under threat?” asked Lipponen. “It looks like with the Roma question and the Romanian question, that there are clearly far-right phenomena in Europe, for example in Hungary. Of course European leaders should have something to say about these things.”
According to Lipponen, the far right had now entered the Finnish parliament.
“The extreme right is now in parliament in Finland too, although there are no extreme right wing parties,” warned Lipponen. “The phenomenon should be isolated, and we should not concede an inch.”
He said that Finland had seen in the 1930s that the extreme right had no place in the country. He also scolded party leaders for shirking their responsibilities in relation to the Portugal aid package, and he was especially critical of the chair of the largest party, Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition.
“Absolutely it is the lead negotiator’s (Katainen’s) responsibility to build enough confidence to ensure that a solution can be found in time,” said Lipponen. “It is the chair of the biggest party who should take care of these things on the party chair level. Otherwise nothing will come of the negotiations—and not a government either.”
Lipponen participated in a debate with former Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and former Justice Minister Tuija Brax. After their discussion, Lipponen was the centre of the media’s attention.