"Finland makes a clear shift to the right"

Following the election, we see a shift from the well-known Sanna Marin to the unknown Petter Orpo. What's on the agenda for the new Government?

– The new Government’s program is 244 pages long, and the formation took around seven weeks of negotiations between National Coalition Party, the Finns Party, the Swedish People’s Party of Finland, and the Christian Democrats in Finland. With this program Finland makes a clear shift to the right. Public spending is reduced by 4 billion euros in the budget, with the largest cuts on social security, unemployment benefits and social and healthcare. The new government will also reform the labor market, by easing layoffs, restraining strikes, and enabling workplace negotiations. Orpo’s government also seeks new investments to clean energy and is drafting an investment package for infrastructure, worth over 3 billion euros.

The new Government is dependent on the right-wing party The Finns. What influence will they have on the Government’s political priorities?

– The most difficult discussions during the negotiations revolved around immigration, climate policies and development aid. Immigration will be toughened, but the government also wants to attract more skilled workers abroad. Regarding climate policies, there are some odd sentences about compensating for the fuel quality directive implementation. The target for carbon neutrality remains, but the government has dropped the 2035 timeline from program. The Finns have the most significant impact on development aid, which has been considerably reduced.

The Swedish-Finnish relations are deep and strong. How will they develop under the new Government?

– Sweden and Finland are aligned in many ways. In just a year, the political power has shifted from social democratic lead governments to right-wing coalitions in both countries. But the political changes don’t change the deep relationship between Sweden and Finland. Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine the co-operation has reached a new level. The saying “Sveriges sak är vår” has never been more relevant, and Finland’s priority as a NATO member is to promote a Swedish membership.

Mikko Koskinen was interviewed by Maria Eklöf, Nordic Director & Partner at New Republic. ”3 Quick Questions…” is a series of interviews conducted by New Republic.