Budget Director Mika Niemelä of the Ministry of Finance leaving after Finance Minister Riikka Purra presented the main points of her budget proposal following internal budget negotiations at the Ministry of Finance in Moisniemi, Espoo, on 6 August 2025. Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
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The June budget draft prepared by Finland’s Ministry of Finance did not include any of Riikka Purra’s savings proposals, according to the Ministry’s Budget Director Mika Niemelä.
Speaking to STT on Wednesday, Niemelä confirmed that work on compiling proposed spending cuts only began last Friday, following a request from Finance Minister Purra. The government’s €1 billion savings target had not yet taken form when the June draft was completed.
“At that point, it was just the first items on paper,” Niemelä said.
He added that the full savings package has since been developed through close coordination between the minister, her staff, and Ministry officials. No separate civil service draft was produced for the proposal.
The clarification comes amid growing public and political interest in the scope and timing of the cost-cutting measures outlined by Minister Purra during preliminary budget talks in August. The proposals include major structural changes such as freezing university funding, abolishing Finland’s refugee quota programme, and dissolving the Finnish National Agency for Education.
HT
- Next Article Purra’s draft budget proposes scrapping education agency and refugee quota
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
