Finland coalition to fall if Greek bailout agreed: Report
Date
7/13/2015 3:29:56 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The Finnish parliament will not ratify the package of reforms put forward by Greece on Sunday to secure an ‚¬53.5 billion bailout, a source told Finnish media.
According to Finnish public broadcaster Yle, the right-wing, nationalist Finns Party has threatened to pull its support from the governing coalition if it agrees to a third Greek bailout.
Finland is being governed by a center-right coalition comprising three parties: the Center Party, with six ministers, the Finns Party, with four ministers, and the center-right, pro-EU National Coalition Party.
Prime Minister Juha Sipila hails from the Center Party, the largest in parliament, Foreign Minister Timno Soini from the Finns Party, the second largest, and Finance Minister Alexander Stubb from the National Coalition Party.
The leaked comments therefore represent a real threat to the coalition government of the EU's fourth largest economy.
The Finnish government's ability to sign an agreement is constrained by a special parliamentary committee that decides the government's negotiation position.
While Finnish officials have refused to comment on speculation that the committee called for Greece's reform proposals to be rejected, the source told Yle that the proposals would not be accepted.
"We want to keep Finland's negotiating stance as strong as possible, so I am not going to publicly disclose Finland's position at the moment," State Secretary for Finance Olli-Pekka Heinonen told Yle on Sunday.
Finns Party leader and Foreign Minister Timno Soini has publicly supported 'Grexit' in the past.
Speaking on Finnish TV on May 8, he said in response to whether he supported 'Grexit' or not: "That would perhaps be the clearest option, for everybody, also for the Greeks."
Greece has proposed a ‚¬53.5 billion ($59 billion) three-year bailout, and has conceded on many key economic reforms to its creditors.
However, the Eurogroup reportedly did not find that Greece had gone far enough, particularly in labor market reform.
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