Finland Times

Kokoomus parliamentary group chairman Arto Satonen in parliament.File Photo – Lehtikuva.

The parliament session was prorogued through a special session on Saturday amidst the two major ruling parties- Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) and Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP)- blaming each other.

 

The lawmakers of Kokoomus and SDP, the main component and second largest component respectively of the four-party alliance government, threw harsh words at each other during the session.

 

The Kokoomus parliamentary group chairman, Arto Satonen accused the SDP of putting party politics ahead of strengthening Finland's economy

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Satonen, in an official statement, expressed disappointment in the activities of SDP chair, also the Finance Minister, Antti Rinne.

 

According to Satonen until now Finland could not trust Finance Minister in defending responsible financial management and disciplined expenditures.
 

SDP lawmaker Jukka Kärnä. File Photo – Lehtikuva.

"I am really worried that the minister responsible for managing public financing cannot advance decisions on savings that are important for balancing the public finances," Satonen says.

Responding to the speech of the Kokkomus leader, SDP lawmaker Jukka Kärnä laid the blame on the inability of Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, also chair of the Kokoomus to lead the country.

"Alexander Stubb will go down in history as one of Finland's weakest prime ministers. Only Anneli Jäätteenmäki's 60 day reign as prime minister can compare to the pandemonium in our country's politics caused by Stubb," Kärnä stressed in his statement.

According to Kärnä, Stubb's leadership has been missing for the last several months, and the prime minister has had no control over the Kokoomus group of ministers or the parliamentary group.

"Our country cannot withstand another prime minister of this sort. Therefore the next prime minister must not only commit to his or her job for the entire election period, he or she must also have a strong track record of leadership experience. Once prime minister, the time for practice is over as Stubb’s time in office has demonstrated in a terrifying way,” said Kärnä.