1st LD Writethru: Finnish Green League withdraws from coalition gov't

The Finnish Green League on Thursday announced its withdrawal from Finland's coalition government.

Soon after the Finnish government approved the Russian-built Fennovoima nuclear plant on Thursday, Finnish Green League chair and Environment Minister Ville Niinisto announced that his party would quit the government.

The withdrawal of the Green League will leave the coalition government with only four parties, with 102 MPs in the 200-seat Finnish Parliament.

The government approved the latest nuclear plant in Finland's North Ostrobothnia province. The Green League earlier this week said it would leave the cabinet if the project was approved.

In addition to Niinisto, Pekka Haavisto, who served as the Minister for International Development, will also leave the government.

The withdrawal of the Green League will leave the coalition government with four parties, the leading National Coalition Party, the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Swedish People's Party.

The remaining cabinet parties will have 102 MPs, only slightly more than the opposition in the 200-seat Finnish Parliament.

In March this year, the Left Alliance decided to leave the government over its refusal to accept the spending cut package agreed by the other parties of the cabinet.

According to local media, some leaders from opposition parties speculated that the next Finland's parliament election, due to be held in April next year, is likely to be pushed ahead of time, as the cabinet's parliamentary majority will be too small to make any important decision.

Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori said earlier this week that his ministry would support the Russian-built Fennovoima plant if its domestic ownership can be raised to 60 percent. Endit