Stance
The ideology of the party is unusual in the European context. Unlike many other large parties in Europe its ideology is not primarily based on economic systems. Rather the ideas of humanity, education, the spirit of the land, peasant-like freedom, decentralization, "the issue of poor people", environmentalism and progressivism play a key role in Centrist politician speeches and writings. From the very beginning of its presence, the party has supported the idea of decentralisation.
Despite belonging to the Liberal International, the Centre Party does not play quite the same role in Finnish politics as do liberal parties in other countries, because the party evolved from agrarian roots. The party has a more conservative wing, currently in opposition to the liberals. Leading figures of the conservative wing, such as Paavo Väyrynen, have recently criticised overt economic and social liberalism. In addition, in 2010 the party congress voted to oppose same-sex marriage.
The party is also divided on the issue of deepening European integration, and contains a notable eurosceptic faction based on its more rural interests. The party expressly rejects a federal Europe. The party was originally opposed to Finland's membership in the Euro currency, but later stated that it would not seek to withdraw from the Economic and Monetary Union once Finland had entered.
In Finland, there is no large party that supports liberalism per se. Instead, liberalism is found in most major parties including the Centre Party, which supports decentralisation, free will, free and fair trade, and small enterprise. The Centre Party characteristically supports decentralisation, particularly decreasing the central power, increasing the power of municipalities and populating the country evenly. During the party's premierships 2003—2011 these policies were also manifested as transferrals of certain government agencies from the capital to smaller cities in the regions.
Throughout the period of Finland's independence the Centre Party has been the party most often represented in the government. The country's longest-serving president, Urho Kekkonen, was a member of the party, as were two other presidents.
Today, only a small portion of the votes given to the party come from farmers and the Centre Party draws support from a wide range of professions. However, even today rural Finland and small towns form the strongest base of support for the party, although it has strived for a breakthrough in the major southern cities as well. In the 2011 parliamentary election the party received only 4.5 per cent of votes cast in the capital Helsinki, compared to 33.4 per cent in the largely rural electoral district of Oulu.
Read more about this topic: Centre Party (Finland)
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