Finland’s five-party government risks falling into disarray due to mistrust between the two main parties, the social democrats and the Centre Party and a disagreement over indigenous rights.
After surviving a row over the EU nature restoration regulation, the latest controversy in the government is the legislation concerning the rights of the indigenous Sámi people.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin and her social democrats have insisted that the draft of the new Sámi law should be sent to the parliament without delay so that it could come into force before the general elections in April.
The UN has already accused Finland of violating the political rights of the Sámi people, the only indigenous group in Europe, three times.
At the centre of the issue is the question of voting rights in the Sámi parliament elections. In practice, the legislation makes an effort to define who is Sámi and who is not, emphasising Saami as the mother tongue.
The Centre Party has contested the interpretation claiming that it would unfairly rule out people from the Sámi parliament who have been active for years, based simply on language.
Lapland and its 10,000-strong Sámi community are traditional strongholds of the Centre Party. To not lose their support, the party has stood up against Marin and demanded that the government find common ground before taking the draft to the parliament.
In the latest poll, the Centre Party received only 10.9% support and is desperate to score points on every issue. At the same time, the social democrats have a lot at stake as they want to secure new funding for social services during their mandate.
On Sunday evening, the government held a meeting over the issue, but were unable to find a compromise.
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
