Finland approves NextGenerationEurope stimulus package

Eduskunta in plenary session

  HELSINKI - With the required two-thirds majority vote of its Parliament, Eduskunta, needed to approve the EU's 750 billion euro Covid stimulus package - and with a controversial vote preceded by harsh filibustering by the Fininsh Eurosceptic party, Finland has approved the package. On Tuesday afternoon, 18 May, the deputies therefore authorized, 134 against 57, the European facility, with two abstentions and six absent. It was a tightrope vote after a constitutional committee ruled that a qualified majority would be required to approve the package, as the matter had constitutional implications.

  It was a particularly difficult time for the National Coalition Party, Kokoomus, a member of the European People's Party, and of the opposition, which criticised the package for shifting too much debt responsibility to the wealthiest states in the north.

  Finland's vote also has a wider impact on Europe, as the EU package needs the approval of all Member States to move forward; Kokoomus had initially announced that the party would abstain from voting, before several MPs from the party declared they wanted to vote against. On Tuesday, 26 MPs from the party voted in favor of the package, 10 voted against and two abstained.

  Tuomas Kettunen and Hannu Hoskonen, MPs from the Center party that is part of the coalition, were the only members of a ruling party to vote against the package. Among the members of the ruling coalition, one deputy was absent from the Social Democratic Party and the Center each and four absences were recorded by the Left Alliance.

  In the same session, Parliament also approved the EU's seven-year budget framework, which amounts to more than € 1 trillion.

  The uncertainty surrounding the Finnish vote has not failed to arouse concern in recent days in EU circles, and there are still 8 Member States left to appeal to complete the procedure that will launch the huge recovery plan.

 

gn-ol