The future of the euro and the EU: Finns show the way

The EU- and eurocritical party, the True Finns was, with over 19% of the vote, close to becoming the biggest party in the parliamentary elections in Finland. The social democrats, who also have criticized the way the euro bailouts have been handled, also did better than expected. It is likely that both the True Finns and the social democrats will join the new governemnt, which the leader of the biggest party, the moderately conservative coalition party will try to form.

The leader of the True Finns, Timo Soini, had this to say about his party´s historic win:

"I think if we are in the government, the line cannot be exactly the same as under the former government," he told YLE News on Monday morning.
"We shall renegotiate with the European Union and I think there will be a bunch of new suggestions. If we're in the government, we'll be in those negotiations and we'll have something to say. Something new is going to happen. And that's very good, because these bailouts clearly have not been working."
Soini said in advance that the election would be the referendum on the euro that Finns were denied before the government took them into the single currency. He has tapped into deep resentment on bailouts, with many Finns noting that the country battled its way out its own severe economic crisis in the early 199s without any outside help.
An Anti-Federalist Tack
As Finland's eurosceptic-in-chief sees it, the EU's entire approach to the financial crisis has been wrong since day one. He argues that German and French banks should have been forced to recapitalise and Greece allowed to default.
"I think that's the way it will go anyway," he says. "It's time for a new plan. Everybody wants to get rid of the turmoil in the economies and money markets. But the answer is not a federal state policy. It must be a policy that pays attention to the real hard facts of economics."
Soini also expressed hope for a broader change of course in EU evolution.
"The way the European constitution is going to deepen and these permanent mechanisms -- the direction is wrong," he said. "It just doesn't function."

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PS
The politicians - and also the voters - in other European countries - particularly in Germany - should pay attention to what Mr. Soini has to say, because he is right. When given a chance to expresss their views, people want to put a stop to what has been going in in the European Union during the last few years. As Mr. Soini says, "the direction is wrong"!