Finantial Times Escreveu:Finland plays down Lisbon bail-out fearsFinland could still approve the proposed European Union bail-out for Portugal despite the success of an anti-euro party in Sunday’s election, according to senior government officials.
The populist True Finns party won 19 per cent of the vote, up from just 4.1 per cent at the last election in 2007, amid public anger over the succession of taxpayer-funded rescue packages for crisis-hit eurozone countries.
The result raised fears that Helsinki could block the Portuguese deal because Finland, unlike other eurozone countries, requires parliamentary approval to take part in bail-outs, which can only go forward with unanimous EU support.
However, Finnish officials urged Brussels and Lisbon not to panic.
“My message to Europe would be: stay calm,” said one person set for a key role in forthcoming coalition negotiations. “Finland’s commitment to the eurozone remains steadfast and that will not change under the next government.”
On Monday the European commission in Brussels insisted that the situation had not changed. “Negotiations are underway with Portugal. The Finnish government has yet to be formed. Nothing has changed...“We are fully confident that member states will honour their obligations”.
While the True Finns grabbed the headlines, the centre-right National Coalition party emerged as the biggest force in parliament, with 20 per cent of the vote, putting its leader, Jyrki Katainen, the current finance minister, in pole position to become prime minister.
A Katainen-led government would ease anxiety in European capitals because he is staunchly pro-EU and supportive of the Portuguese bail-out.
However, one senior Finnish official said it appeared likely that the True Finns would be part of the next ruling coalition, together with the centre-left Social Democratic party, which has also taken a hostile stance against EU bail-outs.
Finnish officials acknowledged that inter-party negotiations would be “very difficult” and predicted it would take several weeks to form a new government.
This could make it difficult for the Finnish parliament to make a decision on the Portuguese bail-out by next month, when Lisbon hopes to complete the package.
One senior figure said “a solution will be found” to the Portugal issue that would allow Finland to “fulfil its responsibilities” within the eurozone.
However, Timo Soini, the charismatic leader of the True Finns, said his party would demand changes to Finland’s European policy.
“I think if we are in the government, the line cannot be exactly the same as under the former government,” he told Finnish television on Monday morning.
“We shall renegotiate with the European Union and I think there will be a bunch of new suggestions. If we’re in the government, we’ll be in those negotiations and we’ll have something to say.
“Something new is going to happen. And that’s very good, because these bail-outs clearly have not been working.”
Senior European officials have begun exploring possible ways to push through the Portuguese deal without Finnish support should that prove necessary.
The biggest loser on Sunday was Mari Kiviniemi, prime minister, whose Centre Party dropped from first to fourth place since the 2007 election. She said the party would not seek a role in the next government.
The Social Democrats finished second, narrowly ahead of the True Finns.
The True Finns have seized on resentment over Finnish taxpayers being asked to bail-out less fiscally prudent eurozone countries – a sentiment also visible in other northern European nations such as Germany and the Netherlands over recent months.
The populist upsurge has forced mainstream Finnish parties to toughen their rhetoric towards Brussels and demand stringent conditions on any rescue for Lisbon, raising the prospect of the next Finnish government being less reliably pro-EU than in the past with or without the True Finns on board.
The Finnish vote marks the latest in a series of breakthroughs by populist and far-right parties in Europe, fuelled by economic discontent and concern about immigration.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP party took a drubbing in regional elections last month amid a strong showing by the far-right National Front. Nationalist parties have made gains in Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium over the past year. In Germany, anger over mainstream handling of the economy led the traditional parties to lose ground in the state of Baden-Württemberg last month.
Enviado: 19/4/2011 18:34
