A man smoking a joint during a protest calling for the legalisation of cannabis use in Paris on 29 May 2021. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt – AFP/Lehtikuva)

A MOTION by the Green League to legalise the use of cannabis has provoked a reaction especially from the ranks of the opposition parties, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

“It’s alarming that the party carrying the minister of the interior’s portfolio is proposing that the use, possession and even sales of cannabis be legalised,” tweeted Päivi Räsänen (CD). “Hasn’t Minister [of the Interior Maria] Ohisalo heard warnings about the consequences from the police administration she oversees?”

Ministers Annika Saarikko (left), Maria Ohisalo and Sanna Marin talked to the media in conjunction with the government’s midterm session in April 2021. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE GOVERNMENT of Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) failed to conclude its budget negotiations on schedule as differences of opinion over climate actions persisted between the ruling parties – namely, the Centre and Green League – on Wednesday.

Marin on Wednesday announced the two parties have been granted until this morning to reach an agreement on the measures.

Ministers Anna-Maja Henriksson (left), Maria Ohisalo and Sanna Marin commented on the budget negotiations to the media outside the House of the Estates in Helsinki on Tuesday, 7 September 2021. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE GOVERNMENT of Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) failed to make significant progress on either climate actions or employment measures at the House of the Estates in Helsinki on Tuesday, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Both issues are on the agenda of the two-day budget session that began yesterday, but the ruling quintet, as expected, struggled to make progress especially on the climate actions.

Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition, addressed the party conference in Seinäjoki on 19 July 2021. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

THE ADVANTAGE of the National Coalition over other political parties has continued to widen in the wave of the municipal elections held in Finland on 13 June.

YLE on Friday wrote that popular support for the right-wing opposition party increased by 0.8 percentage points to 21.3 per cent during the course of August, providing the party with a 2.6-point advantage over second-placed Social Democratic Party (18.7%).

Tax increases in industrialized countries are often implemented directly after elections. This is a finding of a new ifo Institute study published in ifo Schnelldienst. “We saw increases mainly in sales and income tax rates after elections – in other words, taxes that the majority of voters feel directly in their wallets,” says Prof. Niklas Potrafke, Director of the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. “Moreover, our findings do not suggest that left-wing and right-wing governments have pursued different tax policies.”

On Wednesday 25 August, the Climate Policy Roundtable discussed the EU's Fit for 55 package, which presents the means that will enable the EU to reduce its emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

Riikka Purra delivered her first policy speech as the chairperson of the Finns Party in Seinäjoki on Sunday, 15 August 2021. (Timo Aalto – Lehtikuva)

RIIKKA PURRA delivered her first policy speech as the chairperson of the Finns Party in Seinäjoki on Sunday.

Purra addressed the party faithful for more than 30 minutes, drawing particular attention to immigration policy as an integral element of the platform of the opposition party and, potentially, as a key issue of future coalition formation negotiations.

Petteri Orpo, the chairperson of the National Coalition, posed for a photograph on the bank of River Aura in Turku, Southwest Finland, on 2 August 2021. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE NATIONAL COALITION has continued to ride the high of its emphatic win in the municipal elections organised in Finland on 13 June.

YLE on Thursday reported that popular support for the right-wing opposition party has crept up by 0.7 percentage points to 20.5 per cent since early July. At least some of the gain has come at the expense of the Centre Party, according to Tuomo Turja, the research director at Taloustutkimus.

Jussi Halla-aho, the chairperson of the Finns Party, says the National Coalition’s controversial immigration and integration policy programme is a populist stunt that is unlikely to be implemented. (Mikko Stig – Lehtikuva)

THE NATIONAL COALITION’s controversial immigration policy programme is a political stunt that borrows substantially from proposals made by the Finns Party, states Jussi Halla-aho, the outgoing chairperson of the Finns Party.

“I regard this proposal as a cheap, political and populist stunt for a number of reasons,” he declared to YLE on Thursday.

Jussi Halla-aho, the outgoing chairperson of the Finns Party, participated in a panel discussion held as part of SuomiAreena, the largest societal discussion event in Finland, in Helsinki on 13 July 2021. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE NATIONAL COALITION has emerged as the most popular political party in Finland, reveals a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat.

Almost one-fifth (19.9%) of the over 2,500 poll respondents voiced their backing for the right-wing opposition party, representing an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the final poll conducted before the municipal elections, in May.