{"id":16972,"date":"2026-02-18T06:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/16972\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T06:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:43:08","slug":"survey-entrepreneurs-confidence-in-government-hits-term-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/16972\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey: Entrepreneurs\u2019 confidence in government hits term low"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Entrepreneurs\u2019 satisfaction with Finland\u2019s government has fallen over the past six months, according to a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yrittajat.fi\/app\/uploads\/public\/2026\/02\/y-galluptyytyvaisyys.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The Entrepreneur Gallup, commissioned by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, shows that 36 per cent of small and medium-sized business owners are satisfied with the government. In May, the figure stood at 42 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Support for the opposition remains lower. Twelve per cent of respondents say they are satisfied with opposition parties.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t &#13;<\/p>\n<p>Both ratings mark the weakest levels recorded during the current parliamentary term.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe slowdown in the economy, lack of growth and accelerating public debt reduce entrepreneurs\u2019 satisfaction,\u201d said Mikael Pentik\u00e4inen, chief executive of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on the survey, entrepreneurs doubt the opposition\u2019s alternative,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The survey indicates differences between groups. Owners of firms employing more than ten people and those in construction express the highest levels of satisfaction with the government.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Sole traders, women entrepreneurs and younger business owners report the most critical views.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The findings also show a gap in perceptions of leading ministers.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Entrepreneurs rate Finance Minister Riikka Purra more favourably than Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Purra\u2019s approval has remained stable, while satisfaction with Orpo has declined.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGovernment policy becomes personalised in the prime minister, even though his ability to influence economic growth is limited,\u201d Pentik\u00e4inen said. \u201cEntrepreneurs are frustrated when the economy does not grow and consumer confidence does not improve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The survey comes as parties prepare for the final stretch of the parliamentary term.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEntrepreneurs are active voters. They follow closely what kind of labour market and tax policies parties prepare and present before the elections,\u201d Pentik\u00e4inen said.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fall in overall satisfaction, the National Coalition Party remains the clear favourite among entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Thirty-two per cent say they support the party. That represents a decline of four percentage points since last August.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The Finns Party has increased its support among entrepreneurs to 14 per cent. The Centre Party stands at 12 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The National Coalition Party leads in all entrepreneur groups. Among younger entrepreneurs, the Finns Party ranks second. In northern Finland, the Centre Party narrows the gap with the National Coalition Party.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Support for the Social Democrats has fallen from seven per cent to five per cent, equal to the Green Party.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Pentik\u00e4inen said entrepreneurs have taken note of opposition proposals.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially proposals by the Social Democrats to tighten taxation of entrepreneurs and public criticism of labour market reforms may weaken the party\u2019s support among entrepreneurs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The survey was conducted by Verian for the Federation of Finnish Enterprises between 2 and 9 February 2026. A total of 1,185 representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises responded.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entrepreneurs\u2019 satisfaction with Finland\u2019s government has fallen over the past six months, according to a new survey. &#13;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[12278,307,12275,158,308,12276,113,12277,306,3926,8558,305],"class_list":{"0":"post-16972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-helsinki","8":"tag-business-survey","9":"tag-centre-party","10":"tag-entrepreneurs","11":"tag-finland","12":"tag-finns-party","13":"tag-government-approval","14":"tag-helsinki","15":"tag-mikael-pentikainen","16":"tag-national-coalition-party","17":"tag-petteri-orpo","18":"tag-riikka-purra","19":"tag-sdp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}