True Finns locked out of Finnish coalition talks

Finland’s prime minister-elect said on Friday that he wants to form a government without the anti-EU True Finns party, allaying fears the Nordic country could veto future eurozone bailouts.

Negotiations have twice broken down since the April 17 election and a deadline has been set for next Friday to strike an agreement.

Coalition Party leader Jyrki Katainen, whose party picked up the most votes, told reporters in Helsinki that he is talking to six other groups, including the left-leaning Social Democrats, the runner-up.

Katainen said the True Finns were not part of the discussions to form a rainbow coalition. The nationalist party sent a shockwave through Finnish politics when they registered a record election result, finishing third with 19 percent of the vote.

True Finns chairman Timo Soini campaigned on a platform of anti-immigration and eurosceptic policies.

Soini once labelled EU bailout recipients as “squanderers” and suggested Finland look after its own citizens before helping out Europe’s peripheral economies.

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