Brussels, 20/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The centrist party (Suomen Keskusta, Liberal) has won the Finnish general elections of Sunday 19 April, with the Europhobic True Finns party coming in second place.
Of the nine parties which will take up their seats in the Finnish government, the centrist party won 49 seats, the True Finns, 38, the Conservatives of the outgoing Prime Minister Alex Stubb, 37, and the Social Democrats, 34.
The President of the European Liberal party (ALDE), Sir Graham Watson, hailed the victory of Suomen Keskusta in these elections and the impressive result, “the best since 1991”, of another affiliated party, Svenska Folkpartiet. “I am very happy to see Finland's likely return to an ALDE-led government to address the tough challenges that lie ahead”, he said in a press release. The leader of the victorious party is a former businessman and member of Parliament, 53-year-old Juha Sipilä.
According to the winter economic forecasts of the European Commission, Finland is expected to struggle in 2015 to come out of three consecutive years of recession, with estimated growth in GDP of 0.8%. Unemployment is expected to stand at 9% of the working population in the country this year. At budgetary level, the Finnish public deficit is expected to start to move downwards, from 2.7% to 2.5% of GDP, whilst public debt is expected to cross the regulatory threshold of 60% of GDP for the first time ever. However, the Commission and the Ecofin Council believe that there is no interest in this stage in opening specific infringement proceedings over the excessive indebtedness of the country. (Mathieu Bion)