Finland Times

Sipilä said the views of the Finns Party were far from the Centre Party’s position.

“We are also quite very distant on the issue of taxation and immigration. This EU-response was also a bit surprising,” said Sipilä.

The parties handed in the timely response as had been earlier agreed. Sipilä will assess the parties’ responses and, if necessary, further questions will be presented to the parties.

The basis of a new coalition government is expected to be clear by May 6 or 7.

The Finns Party, at least, are expected to fill in on their response, as their answers to the issue of economic reform, immigration and the EU puzzled Sipilä.

The list of expenditure cuts offered by Finns Party Chief Timo Soini, in Sipilä’s opinion, was very modest.

Sipilä said he had a fresh telephone discussion with Soini and appraised that willingness to negotiate with the Finns Party will be found.

On Thursday, Soini did not comment on the submitted response and, according to the writing on his blog, the issue cannot be discussed via the public domain.

Sipilä said he only read a few of the responses submitted by Thursday evening, and in a fresh assessment he also said the views of the Vasemmistoliito (Left Alliance) were also quite far from those of his party.

On the other hand, he did not find anything alarming with the response submitted by the Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland).