On Saturday, National Coalition Party chair Petteri Orpo threw down the gauntlet for Finns Party chair Timo Soini, calling on him to clarify the issue of alleged links between some Finns Party politicians to extreme-right groups.

Orpo and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä joined some 15,000 people who turned out for an anti-racism rally at Helsinki’s Citizen’s Square on Saturday. The demonstration followed the death of a young man after an attack by a member of the neo-Nazi Finnish Resistance Movement.

Orpo, who is also Finance Minister, noted that although the majority of Finns Party MPs and other politicians acted responsibly, the party should still look into its members’ backgrounds.

Soini: Angry messages from party members

Writing in his blog Saturday, Soini retorted that the Finns Party is an independent party and does not take direction or orders from any other party.

He advised Orpo to focus on his own party, the National Coalition Party, adding that the Finance Minister’s comments had generated dozens of acrimonious messages from party faithful.

Last week, Finns Party parliamentary group leader Sampo Terho described talk of connections to the extreme-right as old claims that had already been dealt with.

Terho added that the party leadership had no information to suggest that central figures in the party had any relationship with extremist groups. He concluded that the matter would not be revisited unless new information about possible links emerged.

Petteri Orpo, chair of the government coalition member National Coalition Party and current Finance Minister, delayed his party’s statutory national council meeting on Saturday by a half-hour so his party’s leadership could put an appearance at the anti-racism demonstration Stop this Game (Peli poikki) in Helsinki.

Orpo admitted that it was the first protest that he had ever taken part in. He says he decided to join in because the issue was so important to him.

In his later speech to the party council, the NCP Chair reiterated his position that extremist groups’ operations should be outlawed in Finland. He said that while it won’t mean an end to the violence, it would send a clear opposing signal.

The Finance Minister also had some advice for his governmental partners, the populist Finns Party. He said the party needs to go through its ranks with a fine-toothed comb and get to the bottom of any links to far-right groups.

“I think they [the Finns’ Party] need to make it absolutely clear that they condemn violence and racism. This should also be reflected in their operations. Of course, it must start with the ministerial group, with whom we enjoy a good working relationship and there is nothing to comment on. The clear majority of their parliamentary group members and party adherents in the field also act responsibly. I expect that they will look into the matters with care,” Orpo said.

Nearly a week ago the government officially announced some of the programmes it has in mind to achieve its target of getting 110,000 unemployed people back to work. Some of the details began to emerge on Monday at a press conference with a presentation by Minister of Justice and Labour Jari Lindström.

Among other things, the proposed reforms to unemployment benefits include changes to how those euros can be spent.

Currently, the average unemployed person in Finland receives some 700 euros per month in support, but that money can only be spent on general living expenses, not for example, towards starting a business.

More here.

NOTE: Those who think the Finns Party is the answer to government problems, will only disappoint themselves, they’re as statist as the SDP and The Left, with only nuance in differences.

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government has now been in office for ten months, but has not made much progress towards one of its key targets. The aim is to increase Finland’s employment rate to 72 percent, which would require the creation of 110,000 new jobs.

In reality, however, the employment rate has barely budged from the starting point last May, which was 67.9 percent. It is now 68.2 percent—both figures are seasonally adjusted. The 72 percent figure represents a return to the peak years of the 1980s and 1990s.

The Ministry for Employment and the Economy says that the trend is positive. Officials point to a slowdown in the growth in the number of unemployed jobseekers.

“The number of unemployed jobseekers is no longer growing at the same rate it was last summer,” said Heikki Räisänen, who leads the research unit at the ministry. “It seems clear that the trend has been so strong since last summer that it will continue.”

Räisänen expects that the turning point will come this summer, when he predicts that the number of unemployed will start to fall.

More at YLE

NOTE: Yeah, the numbers in normal times might begin to fall, but with the Spring comes even more numbers of Muslim settlers, and what are they going to do then when resources dry up? Borrow more money!

Finland’s Prime Minister has released his traditional New Year’s address on December 31. He begins by praising the authorities and volunteers who have participated in handling the refugee crisis to date, saying Finland has survived the influx of 30,000 refugees reasonably well.

He has no praise, however, for nation’s ability to renew itself.

“For years now, we have been unable to make the necessary decisions and reforms. Our labour market is inflexible and has not been able to redeem the assurance of its ability to adjust as we promised when joining the euro. An increase in the number of unemployed has been the only way to adapt. This cannot continue,” his office’s translation of his message reads.

Unpleasant chore

He says his coalition is tasked with the “unpleasant chore” of closing a 10 billion-euro sustainability gap.

Prime Minister Sipilä outlines that austerity decisions are set to strengthen public finances by approximately 4 billion euros, and structural reforms such as the health and social services reform will cut public finances by another 4 billion. Pension reform has already been approved by Parliament and decisions to downsize local government are planned for early 2016, he says.

“The Government aims to cover the final 2 billion of the sustainability gap with other measures to promote competitiveness and employment. If this is not achieved, then in spring 2017 the Government will have to make additional savings and tax increases,” the premiere said.

After his last-ditch efforts to secure what he called a ’social contract’ with the country’s labour unions and employer associations fell flat for the umpteenth time earlier this month, Sipilä has moved forward with government plans to impose labour reform – cuts and savings to salaries and benefits that he threatened his social contract negotiators with, if the talks failed.

The labour reforms are intended to reduce unit labour costs by five percent. They would begin to take effect in 2017, if parliament votes them into law this coming spring.

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is ready to collapse his own government if he does not get his way over proposed reforms to health and social care. Sipilä’s Centre Party, which is strong in rural areas, wants 18 new regions to manage and commission services.

Alexander Stubb’s National Coalition, meanwhile, wants a maximum of 12 new authorities. At present these services are managed by more than 150 municipal-level organs, so the changes are expected to bring substantial savings to the public finances.

More here.