The first week of talks aimed at forming Finland's next coalition government concluded on Friday afternoon with many issues still left unresolved.
Speaking to the media before the parties broke for the weekend, Prime Minister-designate Petteri Orpo (NCP) said that it is not the case that the parties disagree on every topic, but rather that Finland faces "very devilish problems."
Orpo noted that consensus has been found on some issues, but differing stances on the economy, immigration and EU policy continue to divide the parties.
As the winner of spring's parliamentary election, Orpo's National Coalition Party is leading the negotiations with the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
Finns Party leader Riikka Purra told reporters that the talks have gone well so far, and will continue next week.
"There are no real breakthroughs, because that hasn't been the focus yet," Purra said.
In response to a question about whether politicians should intervene in media content production, Purra noted that how the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle is funded has been a topic of discussion during the past week's negotiations.
"I believe that the discussion is based on the fact that several parties participating in the government talks have said that Yle's funding must be reviewed," Purra replied.
The question was prompted by reports in several media outlets on Friday that Finns Party MP Sebastian Tynkkynen had asked his followers on Twitter to tell him which Yle content and channels were not necessary.
Tynkkynen has this week been chairing talks on digital communications, which he also interpreted to include Yle's funding and content.
"The fact that a politician would want to intervene in journalistic content is of course not the case," Purra said.
Responding to Tynkkynen's comments on Thursday evening, NCP leader Orpo stressed that Yle's output was not a matter for the government, and that Yle policy is traditionally managed in parliament by cross-party consensus.
Tynkkynen took to social media shortly afterwards to say that Orpo had made a "big mistake".
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