Finland Times

 

European Commission vice-President Jyrki Katainen. File Photo – AFP / Lehtikuva.

EU Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen says the government’s plan to remedy the economy is promising.

 

“When you look at the government’s economic policies, they certainly give a pretty good and purpose-driven response to the question of how things will be fixed,” Katainen said while talking to the Yle Ykkösaamu (Yle morning breakfast) programme on Saturday.

 

According to him, Finland can do the work to avoid falling into an excessive deficit trap with an economic plan drawn up in conjunction with the EU Commission.

 

“The Finnish government has pretty much outlined the answers in its government programme, and when the government later makes a decision on spending limits and possibly amending the budget, they are those places where Finland will be able to respond and, where appropriate, avoid excessive deficit,” he said.

 

According to Katainen, the Finnish situation is very challenging in that the economic problems are structural. In addition, the lacklustre European economy does not lend much momentum to Finland.

 

Katainen believes that the government negotiations went smoothly.

 

“I only saw it from the outside, through the media, and everything looked to be going very well,” added the former prime minister of the country.