Finland Times

 

Chief of Suomen Keskusta and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and chairman of the Kansallinen Kokoomus and Finance Minister Alexander Stubb before the Grand Committee meeting in parliament on Friday. Photo Lehtikuva.

Frantic efforts were underway on Friday evening to strike a deal on the dispute surrounding the so-cial and health care reform (Sote).

 

Even if a solution is to be found on the dispute which has seen ruling parties Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party) and Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) disagree on the number of administrative regions discharge social and health care services; the big question remains how will the government continue to work when the matter turns from the issue of reform to the matter of trust.

 

Negotiations have stretched over and over again, but on Saturday morning Kokoomus will discuss the situation when its parliamentary group and party council convene in Helsinki.

 

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä had earlier indicated that he was only going to allow for more time until Friday morning to discuss the reform, commonly reoffered to as Sote-reform.

 

Commenting on the issue on Friday afternoon, the premier denied reports which pointed out that an understanding had been reached on the number of Sote areas.

 

“Presently there is no such basis, the basis of which I could make any kind of compromise pro-posal,” Sipilä said.

 

According to media reports on Friday, a compromise had been struck to scale down the number of Sote areas to 15 from Keskusta's preferred number of 18 Sote areas. Sipilä said the conditions to solve the crisis in the government seemed quite bad.

 

Government Communications Director Markku Mantila (left), Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Finance Minister Alexander Stubb before the Grand Committee meeting in parliament on Friday. Photo Lehtikuva.

According to the premier, the issue is about trust and not the number of Sote areas.

 

The chair of Kokoomus Alexander Stubb revealed that there had been a number of proposals on the table, but he did not pinpoint the number of Sote areas deliberated.

 

Negotiations still continued on Friday evening at the Government Palace under the leadership of the three-party alliance. There were no details of how the talks were progressing till 8:00 pm on Friday.

 

The three-party alliance government faced an unexpected crisis on Thursday as the components could not agree on the outline of the social welfare and healthcare reform commonly referred to as the Sote reform. 

 

The crisis deepened further when Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, who is also the Keskusta chief, did not agree to allow more time to settle the issue.

 

The Kokoomus had suggested more time be given until Saturday so that the party council could dis-cuss the matter.

 

Sipilä also said if a common ground could not be found by Friday, he would “go to the president” for solution. The expression means that a new government would have to be formed.