2015-05-27T12:24:48Z https://www.treffpunkteuropa.de/juuso-jarviniemi-20150525#comment21127 2015-05-27T12:24:48Z

<p>Sipilä, Stubb and Soini's press conference where the 39-page government platform was discussed finished a minute ago. Contrary to expectations, Stubb will be Minister of Finance while Soini is going to be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. Soini will also have the post of the Minister of European Affairs.</p> <p>Sylvia Bjon of Hufvudstadsbladet, the leading Swedish-language newspaper of Finland, reported from the conference. She quotes Soini (my translation from Swedish) : « The European Union must be reformed so that it can better benefit the citizens. Finland respects common rules and expects others to do so, too. We are pragmatic. »</p> <p>The terms of the British EU membership were briefly discussed by Soini. He suggests that the Finnish government would understand Cameron in the upcoming negotiations, referring to the ECR Europarty.</p> <p>Stubb has messaged commitment to balance the budget and tackle Finland's debt issues. As the Minister of Finance, he will now have a chance to turn words into action.</p> <p>Even though the appointments were surprising, in my view the nature of the government's actions when it comes to Europe aren't necessarily different from what they could have been if the rumours had turned out to be accurate. It appears that the website of the government is down so I can't access the platform :/ Anyway, despite the aforementioned surprises, I can't expect Finland to be too pro-Greece or pro-integration in the Eurogroup or, on the other hand, a notorious CFSP criminal.</p>