Minja Koskela would bless the EU’s collective debt and new taxes –

To the presidential candidate of the Left Alliance Minja Koskelan in my opinion, when developing the labor market, all labor market proposals of the Orpo (kok) government should be canceled first. According to him, the government’s goal is to “crush the ay movement”.

He is ready to finance the investment of the EU’s green transition with EU-level taxes and joint debt.

The Left Alliance elects a new chairman Li Andersson’s to be followed on Saturday. MPs, Minja Koskela from Helsinki and Kuopio are considered the leading candidates Laura Meriluotoa. A regional councilor from Vantaa is also a candidate Gashaw Bibani.

Iltalehti asked Koskela and Meriluoto ten tough questions. You can read Meriluoto’s interview here.

Where would the Left Alliance save to adjust the public finances?

– Our goal has been that, in general, the adjustment of the public finances would be done in a more restrained time scale. So this 9 billion [Orpon hallituksen tavoite] in one election period is excessive. Especially now, when we have been in recession and in a down cycle, it leads to an endless cycle of cuts at worst.

– Our goal to implement these adjustments has been income-oriented. We would raise taxes on the highest holdings and remove, for example, the dividend tax relief for unlisted companies.

The Left Alliance seems to oppose all labor market reforms of the Orpo government. Name two ways you would develop the Finnish labor market.

– The first way is to cancel these reductions. There are so many of these now. Here you also have to see the big ideological goal that the government has. So the goal is to weaken the structures of the welfare state and crush the ay movement. I think this is quite clear. That’s why they first brought the restrictions on the right to strike to parliament. First, the opportunity to protest these impairments is taken away.

Koskela would develop the labor market by enacting the right to co-determination, which would, for example, allow the representation of personnel in the administration of companies and give a stronger right to access information. In addition, he mentions the ay movement’s right of mass action, which would allow trade unions to take e.g. mass dismissals to court, and in Koskela’s opinion, this could also help, for example, employees who do not speak fluent Finnish.

Minja Koskela says that the government is constantly offering tools for how the Left Alliance can increase its support and make a good opposition policy. ATTE KAJOVA

EU collective debt possible

How should the following joint EU projects be financed? Discussions have included, for example, joint debt, raising membership fees and increasing tax-type payments in the EU.

– I personally think that in order to be able to make green transition investments, for example some kind of tax could be a possible idea.

Between the joint debt and the withdrawal of membership fees, he would rather choose the joint debt.

Should private profit-seeking be prohibited in social and health services?

– Yes, I think that in the long term it should. We have talked about this especially in connection with the profit-seeking of child welfare foster care. In Sote, the big pattern and difficulty is that the costs will rise in the next 15 years, because we have an aging population. One of the ways that there would be, but the government is reluctant to use, is to curb expensive purchasing services. This requires national regulation, for example a price ceiling. Welfare areas should be given the right to tax the regions in order to be able to cover these costs.

NATO nuclear protection

The Left Alliance opposes Finland’s participation in NATO’s nuclear weapons training. However, NATO’s deterrence is ultimately based on nuclear weapons. Would it be right if Finland did not participate in nuclear weapons training, even though, like other countries, it receives the deterrence and protection brought by nuclear weapons?

– I think we should not have participated in nuclear war exercises. I’m talking specifically about nuclear war exercises, because that’s what they’re about. I also don’t find it contradictory that we get nuclear weapons protection, and yet we would follow the long-standing national line of advocating strong nuclear disarmament.

– That has been Finland’s line until now, I don’t understand why it should change when we are members of NATO. Norway has been able to follow such a line excellently, we could strengthen Norway’s line by our own example.

In Koskela’s opinion, it is problematic that there is not enough discussion about Finland’s NATO line in the parliament, but that you can read about Finland’s actions in the newspapers.

Female electorate

According to research, the left-wing coalition is voted more and more by the young and the university-educated, and less by traditional Danurians and those who have studied in vocational education. How do you get the traditional Dunars back, or do you want to?

– We have to take this issue seriously. At the same time, it must be recognized that we have been talking about labor market issues in the parliament throughout the fall and spring. We have kept things on display a lot, because they are the core policy of the Left Alliance. We’ve been really good and really hard at it. The question of why there is a feeling that we no longer represent the so-called traditional Dunar is a question that will probably be resolved elsewhere than in the plenary hall when these governments oppose the proposal.

Koskela says that whether he is elected chairman or not, he is committed to visiting workplaces to discuss how employees and shop stewards feel about their work and what the left-wing union should do better to make it a more attractive party for them.

Two thirds of the voters of the Left Alliance are women. Is it good like this, or would you do something about it?

– For example, we have a men’s political working group that considers these issues. In my opinion, the chairman should be able to think about how to develop the male political activities of the Left Alliance, but primarily it should start from men. Men need to make room for discussion.

Koskela points out that the gendering of politics is a worldwide trend, and it is difficult to change the direction in one party.

– I’ve never liked men telling me what to do, so with the same logic I think that I didn’t think to tell men what they should do.

Regional policy

What separates you from your opponent Laura Meriluoto?

– We are different people, different personalities. In my opinion, this is not a line election, but a personal election. I think that it doesn’t matter where the chairman of the party is from, because the chairman must be the chairman of the whole of Finland. It’s quite clear. Whether he came from Savo-Karjala or Lahti, he must be able to go around the field, get to know people, have a conversation and build trust with people.

Are you saying here that where you come from separates you?

– Well, it has become a discussion during this presidential campaign. I personally did not think of it as a very significant factor for the reasons mentioned above, but it is clearly something that speaks to people, so it must be taken seriously and be able to respond to possible dupes that are presented.

In the last parliamentary elections, the Left Alliance lost its only MP in Lapland, Satakunta and Central Finland. How do you get the support in those areas to rise and return the party’s representation to the parliament?

– Of course you have to go to these areas, that’s certainly the first thing. We have to make sure there how we can get support for the activity of organizing. It’s a question in general that the party should think about, but especially in those areas where we lost the place of MP.

In the European elections this summer, the support of the left-wing alliance was 17.3 percent, thanks to Li Andersson. Since then, the party’s support in the polls has dropped to the normal support of around nine percent: why does the idea of ​​the left-wing alliance not get more support and is there anything that can be done about it?

– I think that the time in which we live – in the midst of the entanglement of hard right-wing politics and racist rhetoric – offers us the opportunity to be the leading opposition party, a loud challenger and to do hard opposition politics, but also the opportunity to formulate our own message so that we are no longer just a protest, but offer an authentic vision about how to develop society for the better.