COMMENTARY: Will Timo Soini stumble on his own threshold?

Timo Soini

print this

By Marko Junkkari
     
      True Finns chairman Timo Soini is eager to join the next government, at least judging from how enthusiastically he is speculating about what his own ministerial portfolio might be, and above all, how careful he is not to say anything that might cause the doors of the government talks to close in front of him.
      It’s not that Soini is refraining from saying anything that he wants. In Friday’s press conference he called on Finland to break away unilaterally from the emission trade system and many other international commitments. He would also be willing to give up the euro.
      When journalists tried to get him to say which of these comments were threshold issues for joining the government, Soini’s demands soon became explanations and jokes.
     
Soini makes wild demands, but he retreats as soon as someone might expect him to commit to them.
      He would like to leave the euro, but then he says that Soini’s own opinions do not mean much in this, and that therefore, it does not need to be included in the government’s policy programme.
      He says that it is the majority that decides, and then it doesn’t matter that Soini has a differing opinion.
      Soini is promising change, but he does not guarantee that any changes will actually happen.
     
Soini said that he would take his proposal for a new system on greenhouse gas emissions into government talks, but including it in the government programme is not a “threshold issue”.
      At the press conference, Soini deftly avoided all threshold issues, until he suddenly decided to offer one up.
      Soini said that the True Finns would not be able to support including EU membership in the Finnish constitution.
     
Although Soini’s comment seemed more like a quip, this threshold could prove to be an unexpectedly high stumbling block.
      The current Parliament will probably have enough time to give its approval to the new constitution, which includes a mention of Finnish EU membership.
      The government’s proposal states that the third clause of the first paragraph of the new constitution includes the sentence “Finland is a member of the European Union”.
      If the constitution takes effect, it will have to be approved by the next Parliament. The large parties are committed to passing the constitution, and to have it in the government programme.
     
If Soini’s threshold policy is taken seriously, it means that the True Finns will not fit into the next government.
      But it is unlikely that Soini will bury his dreams. After all, the Greens once got special permission to vote against nuclear energy while in the government. However, it was not a constitutional issue, for which a two-thirds majority will be needed in the government.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 29.1.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Poll gives new record for support for True Finns (26.1.2011)
  YLE poll: True Finns continue to gain ground (31.12.2010)
  NEWS ANALYSIS: The True Finns. Not just populists any more (7.9.2010)
  Soini sets conditions for True Finns´ participation in next government (31.1.2011)

MARKO JUNKKARI / Helsingin Sanomat
marko.junkkari@hs.fi