Political scientist: The Finnish government could crack

– I don’t see it likely to last a full four years, he tells TT.

The Union Party, the True Finns, the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party presented their government program on Friday, “A strong and engaged Finland”.

The agreement required long and sometimes difficult negotiations, as the Swedish People’s Party was, above all, kept apart from the other parties on issues related to immigration policy, among other things.

Goran Djobsund, an emeritus professor at the Finnish Academy of Turku, sees the two largest parties in the constellation, the Alliance Party and the Real Finns, as the biggest winners in the negotiations.

– This means a quantum leap and a clear shift to the right towards more nationalism. The real Finns have also taken a step to the right in their economic policy, he says.

The negotiations, which have been going on since April, have been unusually long in the Finnish context. Goran Djobsund sees risks that the government will crack prematurely.

– My main impression is that a very detailed government programme, after exceptionally long negotiations, has now been worked out. It appears to me that there is no internal trust between the two parties. It was necessary to get down to a deep level of detail so you don’t end up with major interpretation difficulties later, he says.

– If there is a sudden problem that the two sides have not negotiated, this government will have big problems.