Weinig steun bij Finse bevolking voor Europese Grondwet (en)

Only one in five Finns support the ratification of the EU constitution that a majority in the Helsinki parliament is set to ratify, a new survey shows.

According to a TNS Gallup Oy poll published in Finland on Friday (2 June), 22 per cent of Finns agree that their parliament should ratify the constitution, while as many as 48 per cent are opposed.

"The poll shows that Finnish political elites are not in line with the people", said Finnish left wing MEP Esko Seppanen.

He said a reaction from the electorate could be expected in next spring's general elections.

Meanwhile, another internal Finnish battle over EU policy has erupted because a majority of the parliament's constitutional affairs committee has supported an idea to bar the Finnish president from attending future EU summits.

Finland's president is responsible for the foreign policy and therefore participates in EU summits.

Asked by two Finnish newspapers - Aamulehti and Turun Sanomat - ten out of 17 committee members said the president should not attend EU summits.

Any change of the presidential status would require backing from the parliament. But it would be hard to get such a proposal adopted, according to Mr Seppanen.

"In her case (Tarja Halonen), Finland also needs her to counter-balance our very pro-EU prime minister", he said.

Since the EU constitution was rejected last year in France and the Netherlands, the Finnish government lead by Matti Vanhanen, joined forces with those EU states pushing ahead with ratification, despite the 'no' votes.

Up until now the constitution has been ratified by Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Finland takes over at the helm of the EU on 1 July.

Today's poll was conducted by TNS Gallup Oy between 9 and 20 May, among 1000 Finns. The Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left in the European Parliament co-sponsored the survey.