Government crisis in Finland 2017

Jussi Halla-aho

Juha Sipilä

The 2017 government crisis in Finland was triggered by the June 10, 2017 elections for the party leadership of the grassroots Finns. After Jussi Halla-aho , who had a criminal record for inciting hatred, was elected as the new party chairman, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä ( Center ) and Finance Minister Petteri Orpo ( National Collection Party ) announced on June 12, 2017 that they would no longer work in a coalition government with the grassroots want. The crisis resolved on June 13, when twenty MPs, including all cabinet members, left the parliamentary group of grassroots Finns and founded the Blue Future party . Sipila’s government retained a majority in the Finnish parliament and the Blue Future became a new coalition partner.

background

Before the crisis, the base Finns had 37 members in the Finnish parliament and five ministers were represented in the Sipilä cabinet . Timo Soini , the long-time party chairman and foreign minister, announced in March 2017 that he would resign at the party congress planned for June 2017 in Jyväskylä . At the party congress, the Minister for European Affairs and Culture, Sampo Terho, and the MEP Jussi Halla-aho ran for chairmanship.

In the June 10 election, Halla-aho won and became the chairman of the base fins. On the same day Laura Huhtasaari , Teuvo Hakkarainen and Juho Eerola , who are all close confidants of Halla-aho, were elected vice-chairmen of the party. After his election, Halla-aho promised to lead the party in a more nationalist and eurosceptic direction. The result was described by the Helsingin Sanomat as a "revolution". Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said that the base Finns had become a different party.

course

On the morning of June 12, 2017, Sipilä and Petteri Orpo negotiated with Halla-aho about the continuation of the coalition government. Shortly after the negotiations, Sipilä and Orpo both announced on Twitter that they no longer wanted to form a coalition with the grassroots. The dissolution of the coalition with the Basic Finns was accepted by the factions of the Center Party and the National Assembly Party .

It was expected that Sipilä would soon officially ask President Sauli Niinistö to dismiss his cabinet early. Opposition leaders Ville Niinistö and Li Andersson called for quick new elections, but it was assumed that the Center Party and National Collection Party wanted to form a new government with the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats in order to avoid new elections. This coalition government would have had 101 members, the closest parliamentary majority.

On June 13, 2017, however, twenty MPs left the grassroots parliamentary group and formed a new group called Neue Alternative . Members of the group were Soini, Terho and all the other Cabinet Ministers of the base Finns. The New Alternative was ready to continue the governing coalition. The new coalition government had 106 members. The crisis has not changed the composition of Sipila’s cabinet. On June 19, 2017 Terho announced that a new party would be founded based on the New Alternative, the Blue Future .

Views on the crisis

According to Halla-aho, Sipilä excluded the grassroots from the government because the prime minister could not accept his demand to follow the immigration policy agreed in the coalition agreement. Sipilä and Orpo said that they and Halla-aho do not share the same values and principles and they also find it problematic that Halla-aho will lead his party from Brussels instead of becoming ministers in Helsinki.

When the members of the Blue Future left the base fins, they declared that Halla-aho and his supporters had kidnapped the party. Soini accused the far-right nationalist group Suomen Sisu for splitting within the party. The MPs Tiina Elovaara reported that the followers of Halla-aho during the congress Nazi greetings have shown. She later said she was referring to a specific photo taken at the party conference. However, the allegations were later debunked as the photo was taken the day after the election and actually showed participants in the show of hands. Halla-aho pointed out that he had been democratically elected by members of the grassroots party.

Individual evidence

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[2] ttp://www.hs.fi/junkkari/art-2000005248989.html

[3] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9662409

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[6] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9665426

[7] ttp://www.lansivayla.fi/artikkeli/530222-kristillisdemokraatit-voivat-ratkaista-eduskunnan-kohtalon-kd-ajautui

[8] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9667952

[9] ttp://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005260524.html

[10] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finns_party_breakaway_group_to_be_named_blue_reform/9678859

[11] ttps://www.uusisuomi.fi/kotimaa/223063-juha-sipila-naihin-asioihin-hallitus-kaatui

[12] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/fridays_papers_hijab_hate_political_purges_and_green_leadership_vote/9673804

[13] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/thursdays_papers_taco_bell_arrives_finns_party_divorce_human_smuggling_and_abortions_in_decline/9671227

[14] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9668174

[15] ttps://www.uusisuomi.fi/kotimaa/223225-kuva-ps-kokouksen-natsitervehdyksesta-taustalla-olikin-kiusallinen-tilanne

[16] ttp://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000005252113.html