By John Smith
The whole point of being appointed as an Ambassador for any country is to promote that country鈥檚 image around the world.
In a very unusual decision, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen has announced that she plans to invite the Finnish President, Alexander Stubb to terminate the posting of Ambassador Titta Maja-Luoto.
Ambassador to be recalled to Finland following complaints from Embassy staff
She was only appointed to the role of Ambassador to Portugal on September 1, 2024 but in that time it is alleged that she has upset so many mission staff members that between October 2024 and June 2025, no less than eight members had jointly accused her of harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
Such behaviour is said to include bullying, insults, age discrimination, racist behaviour and emotional abuse and the matter was referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its HR Department.
Technically, this is not considered a sanction under the legislation governing public officials but a measure to ensure that the Embassy鈥檚 staff have a favourable working environment although there will be a separate investigation into whether the Ambassador is guilty and should be penalised in any way.
Ambassador to be recalled to Finland and replacement sought
It has been confirmed by Minister Valtonen that she is starting the process to select a new Head of Finland鈥檚 Portuguese Mission as soon as possible.
News site Ilta-Sanomat spoke to the Ambassador when news of the complaints first broke and she accepted that she recognised in hindsight two occasions where she did not behave with 鈥渢he dignity befitting an ambassador鈥 but insisted that she had apologised to kitchen staff over one of the occasions and to Embassy staff on the other when she used 鈥榦ffensive language鈥.
Maja-Luoto has a record of working with the United Nations as well as holding various positions with the Finnish Foreign Ministry and is something of a linguist, being fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Finnish.