Orpo starts negotiation talks to form new govt

Leader of the centre-right Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) Petteri Orpo started initiatives to form the upcoming government through negotiations with the political parties.

Orpo gave the parliamentary groups of the major political parties 24 questions and asked the parties to answer to the questions by 12:00 on Tuesday, said the parliament in a press release on Friday.

Earlier on the day, the parliamentary groups chose Orpo to lead the preliminary discussions to form a new government.

The questions covered a wide range of topics such as taxation, employment, social and health, and education policies as well as balancing of public finances.

Furthermore, questions related to enhancing biodiversity and Finland's role in NATO were also included.

Parliamentary groups and/or parties discuss and reply to the questions in writing. Among the questions, there is usually an inquiry as to whether the group is ready to participate in a government assembled under the leadership of the largest party Kokoomus.

If any group answers the inquiry in the negative, the party will no longer be considered as a component for the government.

After the replies and discussions with the groups, the leader will calls all the parliamentary groups together to inform which parliamentary groups and parties will move on to government formation talks.

The main challenge for the Kokoomus leader is to find the basis of the government, whether it will be a government with Kokoomus and the radical right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) or a government with Kokoomus and the center-left Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP).

According to the political position, Perussuomalaiset could easily agree on economic policy issues, but major disagreements prevail between them on immigration, climate change issues, and European Union policies.

Meanwhile, Kokoomus and SDP will agree on immigration issue but they have different opinion on the economic austerity measures.

Kokoomus narrowly led in the parliamentary polls held on April 2 bagging 48 seats, just two seats higher than its nearest competitor radical right Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party).

Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) secured third place in the close race election with 43 seats followed by the components of the five-party alliance government Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) 23 seats, Vihreä Liitto (Green League) 13 seats, Vasemmistoliito (Left Alliance) 11 seats and Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) nine seats while SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland) bagged five seats, Liike Nyt (Movement Now) one and independent candidate one in the 200-seat parliament.