10.03.2010 12:23 (updated 10.03.2010 12:23)
Image: YLE
Centre Party Chair, PM Matti Vanhanen addressing Parliament.
In what appears to be an about-face for the Centre Party, its leadership has expressed opposition to a detail in a report that recommends curbing presidential powers.
The row has chaffed relations between President Tarja Halonen's office and the Centre Party, which has supported curbing presidential powers. High-profile Centre MPs Anneli Jäätteenmäki and Hannes Manninen were on the task group that drew up the recommendations.
The report proposes -- among other things -- changing a clause about who has the last word in decisions to send Finnish soldiers to peacekeeping and crisis management missions. The report wants to open the door for overruling the President’s decision, if the government and Parliament disagree with it.
The Centre Party has now had a change of heart, and has submitted a note to the Ministry of Justice saying that while disagreements between the governing cabinet and the President should be resolved in Parliament, this should not include decisions about crisis management operations. The note was signed by PM Matti Vanhanen and Parliamentary group chair Timo Kalli.
Centre's Position "Confusing"
The Chair of the National Coalition Party's Parliamentary group, Pekka Ravi, finds this an odd thing for the Centre to be doing now.
"We had understood that the parties on the working group who had committed to the plan were actually committed to it. In this light the Centre's stand on this one detail is confusing," he says.YLE
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