Starting with the Centre
Chair of the opposition Centre Party Juha Sipilä, speaking near the statue of former president Kyösti Kallio in central Helsinki, proposed new start-up funds to support entrepreneurship in Finland. He would also like to explore the possibility of using a portion of severance packages as seed money for new ventures.
“Both solutions would increase entrepreneurial activity without adding to public expense, while at the same time solving the perennial problem of a lack of capital to start a business,” Sipilä said.
The lastest Yle poll shows that the Centre Party will receive the most votes in the coming European election.
The Finns come next
Timo Soini, Chair of the second-largest party in opposition, The Finns Party, speaking today in Vaasa, Kokkola, Kaustinen and Ylivieska, said his party’s goal is “to found and unite EU-critical groups”. Soini also remarked on Yle’s Wednesday poll forecasting that his party would receive 17.6 percent of the vote in the coming election.
“If Yle’s poll turns out to be the correct election result, the Finns Party would increase its membership in the European Parliament from one place to three and be the biggest winner in Finland,” he said.
Then turn Left
In his May Day speech, Paavo Arhinmäki, Chair of the Left Alliance political party, says Finland’s current government is forgetting the less fortunate and low-income citizens are bearing the brunt of recession.
“The measure of a just society is how it takes care of those who are worst off. Just over a month ago, in government budget negotiations, this principle was forgotten by five of the government coalition members,” said Arhinmäki.
His Left Alliance party left the government coalition in protest of cuts to the unemployed, pensioners and children. The same Yle poll predicted a 1.1 per cent gain for the Left Alliance in the coming election.
The Greens have their say
Chairman of the Green Party and Minister of Environment Ville Niinistö held his May Day speech in the southwest city of Turku. He addressed Finland’s energy mix, saying Finland must re-assess its energy policy after the events in Ukraine, as Russia is clearly using energy as a geopolitical tool. He was also critical of the controversial Fennovoima nuclear plant project.
“In such a situation, it is best to favour options that rely on domestic energy sources that would reduce our dependency on Russia. It is also obvious that Russian state-owned Rosatum owning the majority share of such a project would be an unwise foreign policy solution at this time,” said Niinistö.
Finishing with the Social Democrats
In her May Day presentation in Tampere, SDP Chair and Minister of Finance Jutta Urpilainen says a supplementary budget bill on employment-enhancing measures will be released by the Ministry on Friday.
“The supplementary budget will contain up to 400 million euros - a significant investment in enhancing employment by supporting industrial growth, investing in transport and construction projects, strengthening skills and promoting recruitment and placement,” she said.
Urpilainen hopes to see the measures passed still this summer, as she believes that new jobs will be created for future construction projects, among other things.
“Construction projects like the Olympic stadium renovation, transportation projects that will support industry, additional metropolitan housing, repair of elderly housing and nature and cultural facilities will lead to more jobs.”
Urpilainen will face off against labour boss Antti Rinne next week in a competition for the SDP party chair position.
But where’s the National Coalition?
Several smaller name representatives of the centre-right National Coalition Party were sent out to cities in Finland to hold a speech today, but the party’s big guns stayed silent.
Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen announced in April that he will step down in June, and the two candidates for his vacant position, Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori and Minister of Foreign Trade and European Affairs Alexander Stubb are gearing up for their party meeting in June, where the new party chair and de facto prime minister will be decided.