PM Vanhanen wants parties to set budget policies before elections
Centre Party concludes centenary congress in Oulu
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Centre Party chairman, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen wants Finland’s political parties to bring out their policies on taxation and spending for the next government policy programme before the Parliamentary elections in March next year.
"Spending increases or tax cuts that the parties have not dared put before the public in advance will not be taken into the government programme through the back rooms."
Speaking in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat after the Centre Party’s congress in Oulu on Sunday, Vanhanen said that parties should come out into the open and say what they stand for.
Vanhanen wants government formation talks to be held in the public eye. He also wants to avoid a "discount sale of election promises", emphasising that "each party needs to show a sense of reality."
"I expect other parties to have as a core of their election programmes how to divide the expected capacity for tax cuts and the growth of the budget framework, and what to emphasise."
Vanhanen also said that assessments need to be made when the economic situation for the next electoral term can be seen better than now.
"In the early winter at the latest, we will put forward a framework into the government programme on a budget, and on taxation policy, and I expect others to do the same."
Jarmo Korhonen, who was chosen the party’s secretary at the congress, has accused the party’s present leaders of "forgetting the cause of the poor". Vanhanen dismissed Korhonen’s comments as posturing for the elections.
Vanhanen would not admit that there are any conflicts between himself and the new party secretary on policy issues.
Soon after he was chosen, Korhonen suggested that his victory was an indication of dissatisfaction within the Centre Party toward the present leadership.
Vanhanen feels that he got a strong mandate to continue in his post, although the congress did not vote on his position.
The congress marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Agrarian League, which was the original name of what later became known as the Centre Party.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 12.6.2006 - TODAY |
 PM Vanhanen wants parties to set budget policies before elections
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