There is a dispute about the nearly 300 million euro agricultural support demanded by the central government. It is estimated that Sdp will present more than 500 million euros to pay off the care debt.
Mutual in the divisive government, financial disputes of over a billion euros are emerging as a new bone of contention, say several HS sources.
In the middle of the argument, the government parties want to distribute hundreds of millions of euros more money for different purposes. New spending would further increase Finland’s rapidly increasing debt burden.
The center wants hundreds of millions of euros more in support for agriculture. The party justifies subsidies with rising energy prices and security of food supply. Money is needed, for example, to buy high-priced fertilizers.
According to HS’s data, the size of the support package presented by the center is somewhat less than 300 million euros, but it can be larger or smaller depending on what kind of subsidies the EU accepts for Finland.
In response to the centre’s demands, the Greens and the Left Alliance have presented tens of millions of euros in green transition money to curb emissions caused by agriculture. The money would be used for, among other things, the liming of waterways.
The wishes of the centre, the left-wing coalition and the greens are rising to close to 400 million euros.
Read more: Saarikko to MT: The government is negotiating a new support package for agriculture
Dispute has been resolved among the government’s economic political assistants.
They have prepared the supplementary part of next year’s budget, which is around 600–700 million euros. This does not include agricultural subsidies.
The supplementary part contains a lot of “technical” expenses resulting from previously agreed decisions and price increases, such as the state’s increased real estate expenses, financing the increase in the cost of road renovation, NATO funding, preparation for additional funding for social security areas, building a border fence and more money for the police, among other things.
This money has already been almost agreed upon.
Center demands that all new agricultural subsidies be placed outside the so-called budget framework, so that other expenditures do not have to be cut.
However, according to HS’s information, the Ministry of Finance does not consider that all money can be justified by security of supply.
It has been agreed in the government that the supply security money resulting from the war in Ukraine can be recorded as expenses outside the spending framework agreed by the government.
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The Ministry of Finance does not consider that all money can be justified by security of supply.
The government In recent days, it has started to be said in the corridors that the Minister of Family and Basic Services Krista Kiuru (sd) intends to demand 500–700 million euros to pay off the care debt. Nursing care debt has arisen due to, among other things, the labor dispute of nurses, the coronavirus pandemic and the shortage of nurses.
This money is also intended to be invested outside the spending framework as so-called corona money.
According to HS’s information, no concrete proposal has been presented, at least to the ministerial assistants who negotiate on monetary matters, or to the Ministry of Finance by Friday morning.
Information has spread in the government’s assistant council that the money requested by Kiuru is already being presented in the supplemental supplementary budget, which must be considered by the parliament next Thursday.
This is considered a somewhat impossible schedule, especially because it is known that the matter has not yet been negotiated at all.
Likely the money disputes will eventually be dealt with by the five chairmen of the government, possibly as early as the weekend.
The government’s economic policy ministerial committee should approve next year’s supplementary budget as early as Tuesday, so the fate of the billion-dollar package should be decided soon.
Another option is that both agricultural money and care debt money will only be resolved in the next supplementary budget.
For now however, the negotiations have primarily dealt with agricultural money.
The other government parties have a principled understanding of supporting agriculture in distress, even though agriculture only received a relatively large 300 million euro support in the spring. Most of it has been distributed in the fall.
However, the government also asks why only agriculture should be supported, since many other industries have also suffered from Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Bigger however, the problem is the mistrust of the center by all the other four government parties.
Read more: The center is driving the government to the ground at high speed
The governing parties say they are tired of the way the center, which is in a crisis of support, blocks any laws it does not like, even if they have been agreed upon.
Read more: The causes of the center’s problems lie deeper than the chairman’s performance
The governing parties fear that working with the center will become even more difficult if it gets through the agricultural support important to the voters of the center. It is probably the most important of the government’s remaining decisions for the center.
The center has been heard to threaten that the government will go into “supply ministry mode” if the support package does not move forward. It would mean that the government would only take care of, for example, joining NATO, but would not take any new political actions.
Center has justified his changed negative attitude towards laws supported by others with, among other things, the government’s principle that decisions should be based on science.
In the center’s opinion, the difficulties at the end of the government period are like a natural law that the government partners just have to endure. It annoys the center that it should humble itself if others demand. According to others, a lot has already come against the center.
“We are tired of this four-on-one situation. Not everything is the center’s fault,” the center says.
The government the differences were further inflamed by Thursday’s Sámi assembly episode.
Prime minister Sanna Marin (sd) announced that the Sámi district law will be brought to the parliament, even though the center is against it. The center is given an exceptional right to vote against the government’s proposal. The law has been discussed by different governments for 12 years already.
Most recently, in June, Finland received a final decision from the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination for violating the Convention against Racial Discrimination. The decision is related to the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision to allow people on the election list of Sámi wards, contrary to the assessment of the wards’ election board.
The center, on the other hand, accuses Marin of incompetence, because he plans to introduce a law that annoys the center to the parliament, even though the center does not accept it.
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