Finland: Political development and data for 2017

The year 2017 witnessed a government crisis as one of the coalition government's parties, or at least its parliamentary group, the True Finns (PS) split. The Sipilä government pushed through a regional reform package and social and health services reform that would be organized at the regional level instead of at the municipality and small regions level. Reform law packages in previous years had prepared these reforms, but they faced popular criticism and regional elections laws were not passed to prepare for elections in 2018. Tightening the approach to immigration and an active job‐seeking model were debated. Local elections in 2017 saw the Green Party (VIHR) overtaking the PS. Both the Finnish government's Basic Income pilot that started in 2017 and the celebration of a century of independence on 6 December 2017 gained international attention.