The Green League had said it would quit the government if it approves any new nuclear reactors – and that the party considers the revised Fennovoima plant in Pyhäjoki to now be in effect a new reactor.
Greens leader and Environment Minister Ville Niinistö held a pre-scheduled press conference following Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori's announcement that his ministry would back the Fennovoima venture if its domestic ownership can be raised to 60 percent. Vapaavuori, of PM Alexander Stubb's National Coalition Party, says he will recommend that the government approve the revised Fennovoima application on Thursday, with the ownership condition.
During a press conference on Monday afternoon, Niinistö said it would be "difficult to imagine a worse idea" than the Fennovoima/Rosatom project in today's energy, financial and political situation. He said it would make Finland dependent on Russia and harm its international reputation.
He said it was clear that if the cabinet accepts Vapaavuori's plan, he will ask the party leadership to decide at its weekend meeting to leave the government. Without the Greens’ 10 seats, the four remaining government parties will have a razor-thin majority of 102 seats in the 200-seat legislature. The cabinet's term ends next spring.
The Greens left the government in 2002 when it approved the Olkiluoto 3 reactor. That unit is not expected to be ready before late 2018.
'Partners broke their promise'
Niinistö said that the party had set several criteria for its participation in the current government, including the promise not to expand nuclear power in Finland. He says that the other cabinet partners agreed to these conditions and that the others have been met. He said that his party cannot remain in the coalition if its partners violate their promise.
Niinistö said that a shift to renewable energy would "easily create 1,000 jobs" and export prospects for Finland while reducing its dependence on imported power.
A massive investment of state funds in nuclear power would undermine and delay this shift for decades, he argued. The minister added that no other industrialised country is expanding its use of nuclear power, on the contrary. He claimed that Denmark and Germany have built more wind-generated electrical capacity in recent years than the Fennovoima plant would ever produce if it is built.