Finland's conservative leader and Prime Minister-designate Petteri Orpo said Thursday, June 15, a four-party coalition including the far-right Finns Party had agreed to form a government over two months after elections.
Besides the Finns Party, which secured second place in April's general election, Orpo's coalition includes the smaller Swedish People's Party (RKP) and Christian Democrats. The four parties hold 108 seats out of 200 in parliament. Formal talks opened on May 2 between Orpo's National Coalition Party and the three other groups.
"I am proud of the good program and the result of the negotiations. All the issues have been resolved," Orpo told reporters in Helsinki at a press conference with the three other party leaders.
Orpo, whose main election goal was to cut spending by six billion euros, said the details of the government's program would be revealed on Friday.
Tumultuous negotiations
The negotiations to form a government, which in Finland usually take about one month, proved to be challenging on the topics of development aid, immigration, and the climate, where the Finns Party clashed in particular with the RKP. Sceptical about Finland's climate targets, the Finns Party campaigned for a hard line on immigration. But the RKP sees immigration as vital in combatting Finland's aging population.
During the tumultuous negotiations, the Finns Party threatened to withdraw from the discussions in May following the clashes with RKP. "We have disagreed on some things and I'm sure we still have disagreements, but what unites us is that we want to put Finland in order," Orpo said.
The Finns Party served in a center-right government with the conservative National Coalition Party from 2015 to 2017. That collaboration ended when the Finns Party split into two groups – a moderate and a hard-line faction. Currently, only the hard-liners remain in parliament, having become the second-largest party in the 2019 election.
In the April elections, the incumbent Social Democrats led by outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin fell to third place with 43 seats, behind Orpo's party with 48 seats and the far-right with 46.