Stalemate in govt over budget talks continues

The stalemate situation in the five-party alliance government over the budget framework continued till Tuesday evening as the ruling allies failed to reach to an agreement even after seven days of parley.

The situation also threw the fate of the government hangs in the balance as one of the components still in clear disagreement with the four other left leaning parties.

The budget negotiations among the ruling parties started on 21 April and were supposed to be over by 22 April.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin, however, refuted some media reports regarding quitting the government by the Suomen Keskusta (the Centre Party of Finland), the second largest component of the government and told journalists on Tuesday that the Keskusta did not warn to quit.

She also said that the talks would continue on Tuesday night also.

"Discussions are going on. We will continue the discussions together and separately,” Marin told reporters in the House of the Estates, adding that still they are looking for an amicable solution.

Although most of the parties agreed on the framework, the rigidity of one of the components brought things to such a dire state, triggering uncertainty about the government’s fate.

The most contentious of the issues are employment and the economy, as well as the use of peat for energy.

The five-party coalition government was formed with the Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), the Suomen Keskusta (the Centre Party of Finland), the Vihreäliitto (the Green League), the Vasemmistoliitto (the Left Alliance), and the Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (the Swedish People’s Party of Finlan–RKP), after the April 2019 parliamentary polls led by the then SDP leader Antti Rinne as the prime minister.

Antti Rinne resigned from that office on 3 December 2019 as the Keskusta withdrew its support for him, following a mammoth strike of postal employees across the country.

Later, Sanna Marin of the SDP took over as the prime minister and the leaders of the five-party alliance decided to continue with the programme originally outlined by Rinne.