Skip to content

Orpo: Coalition talks to resume on Monday after parties reach common view on migration

Petteri Orpo, the likely future prime minister, says Finland could still have a new government by Midsummer.

Petteri Orpo.
Chairman of the National Coalition Party, Petteri Orpo, speaking at the House of Estates in Helsinki on 27 May 2023. Image: Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva
Yle News

Prime Minister-designate Petteri Orpo (NCP) on Saturday evening said the four parties involved in talks aiming to form a new government had found common ground on the issue of immigration, which has proven a contentious issue in coalition talks.

Orpo's comments came a few hours after Swedish People's Party chair Anna-Maja Henriksson said her party had not approved an immigration position paper that the other three parties—the National Coalition Party, the Finns Party and the Christian Democrats—had signed off on.

NCP chair Orpo, the likely future prime minister, was tight-lipped about changes made to draft immigration policies.

"When we went through the [SPP's] proposals in concrete terms, they were such that we could accept them," he said.

Finns Party chair Riikka Purra meanwhile told reporters that planned immigration restrictions were not rolled back on Saturday and said no substantive changes were made following Saturday's text revisions.

Orpo said government formation talks would continue on Monday and expressed confidence in the negotiating parties being able to form a government by Midsummer.

Latest: paketissa on 10 artikkelia