Finnish politicians attended two meetings simultaneously and received double payments

Several politicians in the Ostrobothnia region attended two separate meetings at the same time and collected fees for both, according to a report by Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

Social Democrat Mari Rantala, one of the politicians in question, denies any wrongdoing. She stated that she had arranged in advance to leave one meeting and join another. “I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong,” Rantala emphasised, though she is considering returning the fee received from the Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county.

Other politicians, including Swedish People’s Party (RKP) member Johanna Holmäng, also received payments for attending two meetings. Holmäng participated in a wellbeing services county seminar via remote connection before switching to a municipal board meeting. She assumed no compensation would be paid for remote attendance and plans to return the fee. “The rules should clearly define which meetings qualify for payments,” she said.

RKP group leader Kim Yli-Pelkola initially criticised the practice, stating that politicians must prioritise which meetings to attend. However, he later told Svenska Yle that he saw no issue with three councillors attending multiple meetings in a day via Teams and receiving fees for each. “Our group rules don’t address this specifically,” he noted, adding that the county council chair plans to raise the matter at the next session.

Another RKP politician, Maria Tokou, confirmed to Österbottens Tidning that she attended a wellbeing services county seminar remotely before joining a municipal board meeting. She had notified the municipal board chair of a possible delay.

Fees for county council seminars in Ostrobothnia range from €120 to €150 per session.