The party leaders reconvened on Sunday afternoon. According to Katainen, they will review the various sections of policy for a government programme as working groups finish their preparations.
Various working groups have been set up to deal with policy sectors. Each group includes representatives from all six parties involved in government formation talks, and is headed by representatives of either the National Coalition or the SDP.
The negotiators have agreed among themselves that no comments will be released before the overall programme is in place.
The negotiations include the National Coalition Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Left Alliance, the Green League, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
Budget views closer
Views among participants on deficit spending are moving closer. The NCP reckons that the budget deficit will be around 3.2 billion euros in the next parliament. The SDP has been using the figure of two billion.
The other parties in the talks have expressed views between these two extremes. One participant told YLE, "Now we are on the same planet".
The state budget deficit this year will be seven billion euros. Before the recent Parliamentary elections, the Finance Ministry announced a goal of a balanced budget by the end of the term of the new Parliament. Once the parties in the talks reach agreement on figures for the economy, the next step will be to negotiate a plan of spending cuts and increased tax revenues that will hit an agreed target.
Talking to YLE early Sunday evening, Jyrki Katainen did not want to speculate on how long government formation might negotiations take.
"It's terribly hard to predict, because sometimes even a minor detail can become a time-consuming problem. But anyway, the work is moving ahead in a manner that arouses confidence. There's nothing special putting on the brakes," said the NCP leader.