Standing unopposed in the party election, chair Juha Sipilä pulled no punches as he reviewed the performance of the economy and the National Coalition-led government. Sipilä charged the National Coalition with responsibility for a third consecutive year of declining industrial output and compared the current economic situation to a famine.
“There has not been a similar period of poor growth in Finnish economic history since after the wars. Over the long term only the civil war and one year of deep famine, 1867, has seen a similar or worse growth during a seven year period,” Sipilä said.
Sipilä had no sympathy for outgoing premier Jyrki Katainen. According to the centre chair the Katainen administration’s economic policy goals, major projects and social and health care reform have borne no fruit or have caved in under the burden of their own futility.
“Hordes of ministers have either left or are leaving the government, including the prime minister and finance minister,” he noted.
Sipilä stated that the Centre Party already has a road map in place to turn change the course of Finland’s economic development.