Intense bargaining over taxation expected in government talks

Vanhanen wants to avoid excessively detailed programme

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Taxation is expected to be a major sticking point in talks aimed at forming a new coalition government for Finland.
      The Centre Party wants to reduce value-added tax on food, while the other designated main government party, the National Coalition, wants to lift inheritance tax from certain groups, and to use possible leeway for tax cuts for a moderate cuts in income tax.
      Municipal reform, setting a ceiling on state spending, and promised pay hikes for the caring professions are expected to cause problems for the parties which are seeking common ground for the upcoming government policy programme.
     
The Centre, the National Coalition, the Greens and the Swedish People’s Party began official government formation talks in Helsinki on Wednesday.
      Ministerial portfolios are to be allocated in the final stages of the negotiations, and the number of ministers is also a matter that will not be known for sure until after the negotiations are through.
     
The main aim is to agree on the formation of a government at the weekend.
      Centre Party Chairman Matti Vanhanen, who is heading the talks, left plenty of leeway for the number of ministers to be included in the future government. After a meeting of the Centre Party’s Parliamentary group, he said that the next government might have anywhere between 14 and 22 ministers.
     
The current system involving 18 ministers could be changed; there is a possibility that a separate minister will be named to deal with issues involving companies with state ownership.
      The Centre Party wants half of its ministers to be women. Vanhanen is to have full control over his party’s ministerial appointments.
      National Coalition Party leader Jyrki Katainen is to decide on the allocation of the party’s portfolios. The National Coalition wants the same number of ministers as the Centre Party. If the party is to get an even number of portfolios, they will be divided equally among men and women.
     
The National Coalition Party would like to give the Greens and the Swedish People’s Party one ministerial portfolio each, or one and a half, as was the case in the government before the previous one. Under such arrangement, the shared portfolio would be held by one party for half of the election term, and given to the other in mid-term.
      However, the Swedish People’s Party wants two ministers, and sees no reason why the number of ministers should not be increased from the current 18.
      The Swedish People’s Party has nine seats in Parliament, while the Greens have 15, which means that they might want more portfolios in the government than the smallest group.
     
Vanhanen told the parties that the next government programme does not have to be as detailed as the one that was drawn up four years ago.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Struggle over ministerial portfolios begins among parties (5.4.2007)

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