The Orpo cabinet is nearly at its half-way mark and this week the government met to make decisions on public finances for the years 2026–2029. Suitable conditions for the growth that Finland needs must be laid now, despite today’s challenging global economy and circumstances.
The outcome of the talks is a broad palette of measures that aim to ignite economic growth, while the government is also assuming responsibility for handling the debt with which the nation is saddled.
“The package that the cabinet agreed upon on Wednesday includes many things that SFP has been working on for a long time, as well as measures highlighted in our own action plans in the past year,” says SFP party president, Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz.
The package contains several important steps for reinforcing Finland’s growth and competitiveness. Taxation on work will be lowered by around EUR 1 billion, while corporation tax will be cut to 18% to incentivise work, support entrepreneurship and innovation, and boost Finland’s competitiveness,” Adlercreutz explains.
As Minister of Education, Adlercreutz is pleased with the investments made in the educational sector.
“With the help of additional investments into teaching of Swedish and Finnish as a second language to students with a third mother tongue, we will ensure that instruction will reach the students who really need it. The additional allowance for preparatory education allows for good development of students’ linguistic competence. These are important measures for promoting integration and supporting students who need it,” says Adlercreutz.
“Many other initiatives are also a direct result of SFP’s efforts. The government intends to prepare a model for facilitating employment of young people under the age of 29; we will also adopt a combined insurance for part-time entrepreneurs and start working towards creating Europe’s best fringe benefit system. The lower limit for personnel representatives being required in a company’s board or management group will be lowered from 150 to 100 employees,” says Adlercreutz.
Additionally, there will be investments in research and development, in increasing higher education places and in important infrastructure projects that attract investment and improve the road network.
“I am also pleased that we will be lowering gift and inheritance taxes by raising the limit for tax-free inheritance to EUR 30,000,” Adlercreutz mentions.
Within social and health care, work will continue towards the adoption of a named doctor model, something else that SFP has long been promoting.
“Being able to consult a familiar doctor increases patients’ feelings of safety, so I am glad that work on this is continuing. The entrepreneur-based model that is currently becoming established in the Western Uusimaa wellbeing services county will next be trialled on a national level. We are also making important contributions to family carers, promoting the use of service vouchers to fulfil the health care guarantee, and investigating the transfer of subsidised Kela transports to the wellbeing services counties – this matters because if the body that is responsible for the care network also takes care of transports, we can reduce the risk of the costs for the network being only partially optimised,” Adlercreutz explains.
