The Finns Party has proposed €8 billion in spending cuts and a further €1 billion in other measures, including tax changes, as part of its plan to bring Finland’s public finances in line with an agreed debt reduction framework.
The proposal, presented on Thursday, sets out the party’s priorities for the next parliamentary term. It is designed to meet the “debt brake” agreed upon by most parliamentary parties earlier this year, but the final savings measures will depend on negotiations between parties after Finland’s parliamentary elections next April.
The plan would reduce spending across several areas, including immigration, social security, wellbeing services counties and development aid. However, the party would protect pensions below €2,000 a month from a proposed pension index freeze, placing the greatest pressure from that measure on people receiving larger pensions.
The package also includes changes to taxation, state administration and public broadcasting, reflecting the party’s proposal to reshape government spending while directing some resources towards economic growth and education.
Finns Party leader Riikka Purra said immigration would be a major target for reform, particularly through changes to social security eligibility. She said the party still intended to move towards a system in which access to social security would be based on citizenship.
The proposed measures include raising income thresholds for immigration, restricting access to social security, ending humanitarian immigration and abolishing Finland’s refugee quota. The party would also scrap compensation paid to municipalities for integration services.
The proposals would extend beyond immigration and welfare. The party wants to abolish Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, which Purra said could release around €1 billion in capital. She stressed, however, that this should not be counted as a conventional saving. Instead, the funds would be redirected towards economic growth initiatives and reforms to basic education.
“In the spirit of Sitra, the sum would be used for the future of Finns. In other words, for growth measures and especially for reforming basic education,” Purra said.
The party also proposes reorganising parts of the state administration. The Ministry of the Environment and the Natural Resources Institute Finland, known as Luke, would be merged into other administrative structures. The Finnish National Agency for Education would be abolished, a measure the party estimates would save €10 million.
Public broadcaster Yle would face a proposed funding reduction of €200 million, and its automatic index-linked funding increases would be discontinued. The package also includes a higher tax on data centres and the introduction of a sugar tax.
Pension policy is another part of the proposal. Between 2028 and 2031, the party would introduce an index brake for pensions exceeding €2,000 a month, while leaving smaller pensions outside the measure. The proposal would limit index-based increases for those above the threshold, although the precise impact would depend on how the policy was implemented.
Development aid would face some of the most extensive cuts. Finns Party parliamentary group leader Jani Mäkelä said the party wanted to end development cooperation, stop new commitments and terminate existing ones as far as possible during the next parliamentary term.
The party says its proposed reductions would not affect support for Ukraine, crisis assistance or disaster relief.
The plan is a political proposal rather than a final government budget. Any measures adopted after the elections would be shaped by coalition negotiations, including discussions over which cuts to implement, how quickly to introduce them and whether other parties would support the proposed changes.
