Prime Minister Juha Sipilä told reporters Tuesday that the governing coalition trio had had a conversation about the proposal to reform current securities legislation to open up the market. According to Sipilä, the conversation took place just before parliamentary question time last Thursday.
Sipilä said that the trio discussed the fact that it would be highly unlikely to find a suitable proposal given that the bulk of the expert opinions on the plan had been highly critical. The three party leaders agreed to continue the discussion the following Tuesday.
Later – in spite of the discussion with his coalition partners – Stubb defended the proposal during parliamentary question time, claiming that 90 percent of experts supported the reform. Daily Helsingin Sanomat later got hold of the reviews and found that just 10 percent backed the initiative.
Stubb has since admitted to pulling the numbers off the top of his head, and has apologised repeatedly for the error.
Sipilä, Soini back Stubb
The opposition SDP, Greens and Left Alliance have called for a reckoning of what they see as a number of inaccurate statements made by the Finance Minister during the autumn parliamentary term. They are demanding that Sipilä provide a statement about Stubb’s comments or that the government table a formal communication in parliament.
However Sipilä said that he will not comply with the opposition’s demands, and that MPs have other ways to bring a vote of confidence in the Finance Minister.
Stubb’s other coalition partner, Foreign Minister Timo Soini said that he was pleased with the government’s decision to back down on the controversial measure. Writing in his blog Tuesday, Soini said that Stubb should be allowed to continue as Finance Minister.
He said that Stubb had made mistakes and provided inaccurate figures, but noted that he had apologised for his actions.
Suffering glorifies the soul," Soini added.