Finnish PM Sanna Marin leaves EU summit as coronavirus precaution

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin left the European Council summit in Brussels on Friday after discovering she had been exposed to a Finnish member of parliament infected with the coronavirus.

Prior to the EU leaders’ summit that began Thursday, Marin attended a meeting the previous day in which she was close contact with Tom Packalén, a member of the Finnish Parliament who later tested positive with the coronavirus.

Marin is the second leader to leave the summit as a coronavirus precaution. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left the summit on Thursday afternoon after finding out that a member of her staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not even travel to the summit after going into self-isolation earlier this week following contact with someone infected with COVID-19.

Marin asked Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to represent Finland for the rest of the summit. She will immediately return to Finland and take a coronavirus test. After this, she will quarantine at her official residence, known as Kesäranta, a government statement said.

During the summit, Marin gave a speech supporting the use of videoconferences among EU leaders, arguing that the threshold for holding physical meetings should be higher as the coronavirus pandemic rages on in Europe.