The Left Alliance has thrown a proposed budget into doubt after rejecting the plan for three billion euros of spending cuts and tax rises. The proposed budget was presented to parliamentary groups on Tuesday evening after a day of tough negotiating between the leaders of the six government parties.
The party is demanding changes to the package including above-inflation increases in benefits for the lowest-income groups, including students and pensioners.
Party chair Paavo Arhinmäki told Yle that his MPs would not support parts of the package unless they were changed. Other parts of the package would receive leftist support, but that may not be enough to keep the Left Alliance in the six-party government.
Culture minister Arhinmäki said that it is now up to Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and the other parties in the coalition to decide if the Left Alliance will stay in government.
"Our line in government has had two central themes: reducing income differences and basic social security," said Arhinmäki. "In this result there are so many things that conflict with those basic principles that the Left Alliance cannot accept the framework budget in its current form."
Katainen had earlier said that the package was ‘painful for everyone’, but that there was no room for negotiation on the contents of the proposal. Details of the plan were not published on Tuesday evening.
