Board negotiations | Orpo: Employment measures, development cooperation funds and climate decisions still open

Policy|Board negotiations

The government shaper Petteri Orpo (kok) stated on Tuesday that the government negotiations still have to do with employment measures, financing of development cooperation, the obligation to distribute renewable fuels and climate decisions. As recently as Tuesday morning, Orpo considered it possible that an agreement on the allocations for development cooperation could have been reached during Tuesday or on Wednesday at the latest.

He said at the evening press conference that he still hopes that the government program will be ready next week.

At the press conference, Orpo was expected to provide information about the solutions agreed upon in the government negotiations, but he did not receive any. He said that he came to the conclusion that the entire government program will be announced at once only when it is ready.

Orpo said that on Tuesday the chairman’s table approved, among other things, the communication and digitization paper.

“As for Yle’s funding”, those decisions are prepared in parliament in a parliamentary manner.

Cutting development cooperation money has long been on the chairmen’s table, and according to Orpo, the euro amount has been split. He admitted that the positions are still far from each other, although convergence has taken place.

Basic Finns has demanded bigger cuts to development cooperation funds than other parties participating in government negotiations.

Chairman of Rkp Anna-Maja Henriksson already said in the morning that the agreement on the surgeries is still far away.

“It’s quite clear that we also have to cut, and quite a lot, but everything has its limits.”

of STT according to the information, the cuts would target the part of development cooperation managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for which 710 million euros have been budgeted for this year. With these funds, for example, bilateral development cooperation between Finland and a partner country is carried out, the work of Finnish non-governmental organizations is supported, multilateral organizations are financed, and humanitarian aid is given.

This total does not include, for example, the reception costs of refugees.

The share of funding programmed for Ukraine for this year is EUR 38 million, but money also goes to the country from, for example, humanitarian funding and through NGO funding.

The parties have agreed that support for Ukraine will not be cut.

This year, in the state budget, the total allocations for development cooperation are around 1.1 billion euros.

Orphan has also signaled that an agreement on the gradation of earnings-related unemployment insurance is very close.

“Shortening, staggered and other earnings-related models are on the table,” he said in the morning.

The negotiating parties have had a fairly unified view that earnings-related unemployment insurance should be stepped up, but shortening it has mainly been brought up by the coalition.