(Recast) Roundup: Finland to be ruled by non-socialist coalition

Finland is now likely to have a ruling coalition comprising the Center Party, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party (NCP), after attempts to include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Left Alliance failed on Thursday.

Juha Sipila, leader of the Center Party and the would-be prime minister, told a press conference in an annex to the parliament building that he had tried to form a coalition comprising the four biggest parties including the SDP but it proved not feasible.

The three ruling parties will occupy 124 seats in the 200-seat parliament elected on April 19. The SDP will remain the opposition together with the Left Alliance, Greens, Christian Democrats and the Swedish People's Party.

It was the first time since late 1970s that the Swedish People's Party was not included in the ruling. Sipila said the inclusion of the party was possible "until the last hour".

At the press conference on Thursday, the Finns Party leader Timo Soini singled out the country´s EU policies in particular. The Finns Party, also known as True Finns in Finland, is well known for its populist policies featuring anti-EU stance and tough immigration line.

Asked how it was possible to accommodate the Finns Party's immigration line, Sipila said agreement had been reached and it was acceptable to the NCP as well.

Sipila said an alternative of "red earth" coalition including the SDP and excluding the NCP, known as Conservatives, was considered until fairly late. SDP chairman Antti Rinne said he was disappointed about the final decision.

Rinne told the media the line of his party on employment conditions was not acceptable to the others. Commentators have noted labor unrest due to cutbacks would have been less if the Social Democrats were inside the government.

An ambitious attempt to create a frame agreement with key labor market parties failed earlier this week. Centrist leader Sipila had attempted to create a parallel "societal overall agreement". Sipila said the wage earners had not been willing to accept tough changes in working time and the employers meanwhile were not willing to contribute more to the training of job seekers.

Analysts believed Sipila had tried to reach a similar kind of agreement applied in Germany 10 years ago, when employment security was curtailed and lower salaries were made legal.

Sipila took up the idea of creating a social general contract soon after the election. The talks were held among organizations of wage earners, employers, agricultural producers and entrepreneurs.

Sipila set a target that a five percent increase in productivity would be achieved through changes in tariffs and less bureaucracy. However, from the start the demands of the employers and wage earners were far apart.

Finnish Daily Helsingin Sanomat said that the failure to reach a comparable agreement in Finland lay in facts, among which the employer side refused to reduce compensation of the top management.

Sipila said governmental talks among the three parties would start on Friday, and he expected his new cabinet would hopefully be formed before the end of May. He described the process as "a stony road ahead".

Vowing to renew Finland, Sipila underlined that it should be done in a "just manner" so that no Finn is excluded. Some commentators have predicted the policies of the new government would be more value conservative and could be defined as a "non-socialist" government, where less attention would be paid to minorities.

The likely government on basis of the three parties has also been nicknamed as the Triple-S government. The term refers to the first letters of the three party leaders, Sipila, Soini and NCP leader Alexander Stubb. Endit