A bombshell media victory, European Parliament elections and picture perfect views of Finland

Hello Insiders!

It’s been another busy week, so apologies for the 24-hour delay in getting this newsletter out as I was moving house! No stress…

This week we’ve got a ton of information about the European Parliament elections from advance voting to the latest polls. There’s also a bombshell legal ruling with big impacts on freedom of the press; some headline visits from Ursula von der Leyen and Jens Stoltenberg; a green light for Finnish police to operate on Swedish soil, and concerns over events in Denmark.

All that is still to come, but first:

Insider Originals

Looking through the list of 232 candidates running in the European Parliament election, it looks fairly balanced in gender terms across the breadth of the 14 parties. There’s also a good mix of younger and older candidates; and of course a broad representative geographic spread too.

But one thing that jumps out is how white the candidate list is, which stands in stark contrast to the multi-cultural and diverse populations that make up Finland’s biggest cities.

So are Finns with minority and immigrant backgrounds properly represented at this European Parliament election? I talked with Green candidate Shawn Huff and Theodora Helimäki, a political researcher at the University of Helsinki, to find out more:

European Parliament election:

Voting. Early voting has already started and finished in the last ten days (which you might have noticed due to a flurry of social media activity from candidates and their supporters). The final/official polling day is Sunday 9 June and if you were wondering how it works here in Finland - since each EU country has their own systems about who can vote, when, where, and how old the voters have to be - then take a look at the Finland Insider quick and easy guide to everything you need to know about the European Parliament election in Finland:

Early numbers: A quarter of all people in Finland who are eligible to vote did so in advance before polls closed last Tuesday evening. That’s up slightly compared with five years ago.

Polls: A new poll this week for Yle has good news for Kokoomus, the Social Democrats, the Finns Party and the Left Alliance, who are all forecast to pick up an extra seat in the next European Parliament. However it was bad news for the Christian Democrats and Swedish People’s Party who are forecast to lose the one seat they both hold; and bad news too for the Greens, predicted to lose two of their three seats.

Eager. An elderly man in Lapland was so eager to cast his advance ballot that he hiked 11km and rowed across 3 lakes to vote, Lapin Kansa newspaper reports.

Indigenous. Sámi Parliament President Pirita Näkkäläjärvi has listed her top three asks for the next European Parliament. They are 1) Permanent structures for Sámi participation in EU decision-making. 2) A climate change adaptation programme for all traditional Sámi livelihoods which are impacted by the climate crisis; and 3) More incentives to develop the vitality of the Sámi region.

Brussels. All the Finnish parties which are elected to Brussels, align themselves with like-minded parties from around the EU under pan-European ‘umbrella’ political groupings. For example the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) is part of the European People’s Party (EPP); while the Social Democrats are part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats at the parliament in Brussels. So which European political grouping do you most closely align with, politically? Manuel Müller from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) has been part of a project where you can take an online quiz with 20 questions to find out. It’s available here in several languages, including Finnish and English.

Ursula. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was in Helsinki on Tuesday meeting candidates and voters. A small group of protesters shouted that she was a war criminal during her stop at Narinkkatori, and were detained by police until after she left the area.

Monday. Look out on Monday for a new article on our social media channels with the main takeaways from the European Parliament election results in Finland.

Inside politics:

Journalism is not a crime. This week saw the culmination of a legal case which had been a long time in the making. In summer 2022, three journalists at Helsingin Sanomat published an investigation into multiple allegations that a Kokoomus MP Wille Rydman had "inappropriate relationships with young women and underage girls." The journalists interviewed a number of women who all had strikingly similar things to say about Rydman’s conduct.

The MP filed a complaint with the police and wrote a book denying all allegations. After being suspended by Kokoomus, Rydman decided to switch parties to the Finns Party, where he remains Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs to this day.

On Thursday a judge ruled that the Helsingin Sanomat journalists had not committed any crimes by reporting their story. Charges against young women who made the allegations were also dropped.

Rydman says he is “surprised” by the ruling, and still maintains that the article is “inaccurate and extremely offensive”.

HS Editor-in-Chief Erja Yläjärvi says: “Helsingin Sanomat has proven from the beginning that the information presented in the story is correct."

Paavo Teittinen, one of the HS journalists wrote: “I am particularly pleased with the prosecutor's decision on behalf of the many young women who bravely told about Rydman's oppressive behavior towards them and as a result were unfairly subjected to criminal proceedings.”

Summer. PM Orpo has decided to save money (not a bad thing at all) and not host any of the traditional summer parties at Kesäranta, his official residence in the capital. Usually there are garden parties for politicians and journalists too but in future they’ll be held only every second year.

Flags. The Centre Party are calling time on the tradition of a flag parade before the start of their annual summer conference. Delegates dress in national costume and sing songs during the march, but this year in Jyväskylä the parade won’t take place because of roadworks along the proposed route. The Keskusta party conference is happening on 14 -16 June.

Racism. Finland’s Non-Discrimination Ombudsman says that racism is becoming more common in politics, while a survey by Yle found 25% of Finnish MPs had received threats or experienced violence in office.

Before the 2019 general election I interviewed a number of political candidates from minority backgrounds (including some who were MPs and some who have now become MPs) who talked about the racist abuse they receive. Watch here:

Finland international:

 NATO. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg paid a visit to Finland this week where he had talks with senior political and military leaders. It was his first visit since Finland joined NATO last year, and he also went to Sweden on this same trip.

“We see ourselves very much as a security provider, not a security consumer. We want to be a very reliable ally”, President Stubb told journalists at a press conference on Thursday. “We will do our part in the defence of the alliance based on a 360 approach. So, we’re not only looking to the east, we also look to the west, south, and north.”

Denmark. Finnish politicians have been quick to send messages of support to Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, after she was assaulted in the street in Copenhagen on Friday night. Messages came from current government ministers, as well as from Finnish Social Democrats (Frederksen is a Social Democrat too) and from members of the previous government.

Sweden. Finnish police are set to be allowed to operate in northern Sweden under broad new powers which allow them to get involved in serious crimes like murder or rape when Sweden police cannot arrive in time, SVT Nyheter reports.

And finally…

If you haven’t caught up with Ants Vahter’s Instagram account go follow him now! He’s a Helsinki-based photographer who takes amazing photos of the capital, and rain or shine, snow or more snow he finds the beauty in every angle, every shot, capturing daily life and vistas in Helsinki (and just offshore too, as you can see from this pic):

Thank you, kiitos, tack!

That’s the end of the Week 23 newsletter, hope you enjoyed the contents. I’ve enjoyed getting feedback from quite a few of the subscribers, and their suggestions have already been reflected over the last month to make Finland Insider a better product.

If you have a suggestion about something you liked or didn’t like, or want to suggest a story idea or news tip then please get in touch with me directly: [email protected] 

See you next Friday!

David