The parliamentary group of the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) said on Thursday that the three other opposition parties have agreed to join it in challenging the government’s budget plan, announced a day earlier. The proposed budget calls for a deficit of 10.8 billion euros next year.
The parties are to provide more details in a press conference at 10am Friday.
The parties say they reject the economic and employment goals of the government programme. Joining the NCP are the Finns Party, the Christian Democrats and the one-man Nyt-liike (Movement Now).
The budget came under the microscope in this week's All Points North podcast. You can listen to the full podcast via the embedded player here or via Yle Areena, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your usual podcast player.
Slight adjustments to NCP text
The pro-business NCP said earlier that it would file an interpellation if the government was not in view able to make decisions in budget talks on stopping the cycle of state debt, setting new employment targets and improving competitiveness.
The NCP parliamentary group said that the other parties asked for some slight adjustments to the interpellation before agreeing to sign on this week.
The five parties in the centre-left government coalition have 117 seats in the 200-seat legislature, led by the SDP with 40.
The NCP and Finns Party are close behind the prime minister’s party, with 38 seats each.