NEWS ANALYSIS: Frequent updates for parties’ immigration platforms
Striking similarities between True Finns’ and National Coalition Party’s statements on immigration
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By Miska Rantanen
The immigration debate that has been raging in recent years has found its way into the declarations of Finland’s political parties.
Some of the most recent examples include a report drawn up by National Coalition Party MP Arto Satonen calling for “realism in asylum policy, resources for integration”, dating back to November 2009, as well as an interim report by the Social Democratic Party’s working group on immigration, setting a goal for “controlled immigration” released in May this year.
Last Saturday, 13 city councillors of the True Finns party put out their own “Reticent Election Manifesto”.
The parties do not draft these statements for no reason. They are loaded with charges, and sooner or later, they are assimilated into election platforms or party programmes.
The change in direction has been considerable. Helsingin Sanomat published a story on January 12th, 2009, for which parties in Parliament had been asked how they would deal with immigration.
It turned out that most parties had no broader policy lines on the matter, and most of them mentioned immigration only in a subordinate clause in their party programmes.
It is worth noting that as the story was being written - just a year and a half ago - the party secretary of a medium-sized opposition party confided to the journalist, saying that “We had to sit down for coffee and think what our opinion on the matter was”.
So how do the abovementioned programmes differ from each other?
The 75-page programme of the National Coalition Party is the most thorough and most comprehensive, and is part of a series of reports begun in 2006.
Some of the basic ideas have already been implemented. For instance, the family unification system has already been modified with legislation including age tests for asylum seekers, and by making it more difficult for foster children to benefit from family unification.
Other arguments put forward by Satonen include placing an emphasis on language skills and raising immigrant women into the front and centre of integration efforts.
The manifesto of the True Finns, which is divided into four parts, bears a number of striking similarities with the report of the National Coalition Party. Among other things, the aforementioned proposals by Satonen can be found in the True Finns’ manifesto as well, although they were expressed in a more colourful manner.
There are also differences, for instance in the means to the desired ends. Whereas the National Coalition Party wants to increase resources, especially for the processing of asylum applications, the True Finns state that “money should not be wasted on various types of training for confronting otherness”.
Both emphasise that there are no religious or cultural justifications for violating Finnish legislation. The SDP’s interim report focuses on work-related immigration, but it takes the same general lines.
However, the issue is looked at from a different angle. Laws need to be obeyed above all to prevent the establishment of a two-tier labour market - one for Finns who obey the rules, and another for foreign workers who do not.
The greatest difference between the National Coalition Party and the SDP involves the issue of consideration of the availability of labour. The Social Democrats adhere to the idea that an employment and economic development office should ascertain that granting a work permit to someone coming from another country does not prevent a Finnish resident from getting work. The National Coalition Party would abolish the rule.
Debate on immigration is continuing. It is easier to discuss than before, now that the policy lines of the various sides to the debate are becoming more clear.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.8.2010
MISKA RANTANEN / Helsingin Sanomat
miska.rantanen@hs.fi
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| 3.8.2010 - THIS WEEK |
 NEWS ANALYSIS: Frequent updates for parties’ immigration platforms |
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