Finland's government has accepted changes to the application for a new nuclear power plant at Pyhäjoki in North Ostrobothnia. As a result the Green League--which had opposed the Fennovoima reactor project--announced their resignation from the cabinet.
Green League leader Ville Niinistö and his party colleague Pekka Haavisto, who served as the Minister for International Development, will now leave the government. The switch of Green MPs to opposition ranks leaves Prime Minister Alexander Stubb with a wafer-thin majority in parliament: just 101 seats to 98. SDP MP Eero Heinäluoma is not included in the government total due to his role as Speaker of Parliament.
"Right up to the end we didn't believe that the government would take this thing (the Fennovoima project) to parliament," said Niinistö after announcing his decision. "That's why things have been open. We did everything, but we lost. The 10-7 vote shows that there's a possibility of changing the proposal in parliament."
SDP Ministers Pia Viitanen, Susanna Huovinen, Krista Kiuru and Erkki Tuomioja all voted against the Fennovoima project, as did Anna-Maja Henriksson of the Swedish People's Party.
Stubb: Greens' exited in "constructive" spirit
Stubb was conciliatory after the vote.
"The Greens' departure from government happened in a very constructive way," said the premier.
In the days running up to the government's announcement earlier SDP Finance Minister Antti Rinne had called for an opposing bid, for a fourth reactor at Olkiluoto to be brought back on the table.
But Economic affairs minister Jan Vapaavuori, from Stubb's National Coalition party, had already shelved that application. Construction of the third reactor at that site has been beset with delays.
The most vocal opposition to the nuclear deal has come from the Greens, who made it a condition of staying in government that there would be no further nuclear power plans. The controversy is all the deeper because the proposal means awarding a multi-billion infrastructure contract to Russia's state-run nuclear contractor at a time of Europe-wide sanctions.
But a poll this morning in Helsingin Sanomat claims that the majority of MPs support Stubb's nuclear proposal. As for the PM himself, he's still batting off claims that his government's reduced majority will force him into bringing the election forward from April next year.
