Defence debt, 'drunk' politician, summer jobs and AI coffee

Hello Insiders!

Any notions that we might have a pleasant and gentle start to 2025 when it comes to the news has been thoroughly dispelled! This week is as busy as any other and I’ve got tons of stories to get to this week. Some of them for sure have hit the headlines and been in the public consciousness - but others might have slipped below the radar.

I was explaining the concept behind Finland Insider to a friend this week and it’s not necessarily a comprehensive list of every news story which happens in Finland in any given week: but think of it more like a curated list of the stories I think are important or worth mentioning, or that I think you might like to know about. And then of course for some of those stories I add my own context and insight (for what it’s worth!) and that’s very much a subjective take.

Coming up this week: the fake professor, a warning for Russia, healthy kids, a drunk MP on a flight to Bangkok, the latest on the Baltic Sea sabotage enquiry, AI coffee and a skirmish at Oodi Central Library.

All that still to come, but first this:

Insider originals

🌐 Finland took over the chairmanship of the OSCE during its 50th anniversary year, with a gala event planned for Finlandia Hall in the summer.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is supposed to bring together 57 countries stretching from Vladivostok to Vancouver to promote comprehensive security models, protect human rights and democracy, and build sustainable economic development. But how easy or realistic is that when one of those countries launched a devastating and brutal full-scale invasion of another?

In this Insider Original article I take a look at the challenges facing Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen who is responsible for driving the OSCE ship during 2025, and ask how relevant the organisation is, as it tries to tackle some of Europe’s most urgent issues.

Click here to read the full story.

Inside the headlines

🌊 Baltic Sea. NATO will dispatch 10 naval vessels to the Baltic Sea to help secure critical underwater infrastructure. It comes after a series of suspected incidents of sabotage on the Baltic Sea floor, where Russian-backed ‘ghost fleet’ ships are thought to have caused damage to cables and pipelines.

⚠️ Fake News. Verkkouutiset, the Kokoomus party newspaper, this week exposed a glaring example of disinformation regarding the case of the Eagle-S oil tanker and its suspected role in damaging undersea cables. A Pakistani media outlet published an article discrediting some reporting about the Eagle-S and whether it carried any Russian spy equipment, and quoted “Dr. Richard Blake, Professor of International Relations at University of Helsinki”. The only problem is that “Dr. Richard Blake” does not exist. He is entirely fictional, as are the quotes attributed to him in the Pakistani article. Kudos to journalist Laura Halminen for spotting this!

💰 Debt. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) says he’s open to the idea of Finland taking on joint debt with other EU countries to finance defence spending.

Speaking to public broadcaster Yle on Saturday morning, Orpo said “I do not rule out the option - and this is now a personal matter, the government has no position on the matter - that we could use joint European financing, including debt financing, specifically to strengthen defence, provided the money is spent where Europe is defended.”

Orpo’s far-right coalition partner the Finns Party, have been strongly opposed to taking on any sort of joint debt with other EU countries.

↔️ Line. Checks have recently been completed on the world’s most accurate straight line, which can be found in Nummela. The 864-metre-long line is the most precise in the world end-to-end, with an accuracy to within less than a tenth of a millimetre. Scientists check the Nummela line every decade or so to ensure its accuracy, and require just the right sort of cloud cover for their light and mirrors measuring equipment to work. And what practical purpose does this line have (it’s officially called the ‘Nummela Normal Base Line’?) Well, it was first developed to draw maps of Finland but is now used by all sorts of industries which need extremely precise measurements. Who knew, right?

💰 Economy. Finland’s national debt statistics have been updated. At the end of December 2024, the national debt was €169.41 billion.

🧑‍⚕️ Health. A new study in Helsinki finds that there’s clear differences in the health of young people based on their gender and economic background. The study was carried out by the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, and reveals that boys experience their well-being and health better than girls. And young people who experience their family’s financial situation as positive are typically more healthy and report better feelings of well-being.

🇷🇺 Anti-Russian sentiment. Ilta-Sanomat reports on a rowdy party attended by dozens of people at a Helsinki casino during Pikkujoulu seasons at the end of 2024, where songs with a strong anti-Russian sentiment were allegedly sung with gusto. At least one person has voiced their concerns about the event, which was attended by Helsinki MP Atte Kaleva (NCP).

🛂 Border. The government said this week it plans to keep the eastern border with Russia closed, and even extend a controversial law allowing Border Guards to turn away asylum seekers under certain circumstances, AFP reports. The government said the border closure and new law have had the desired effect of halting so-called ‘instrumentalised migration’.

📚 Library. Police had to be called (again) to clear a fascist and racist group who set up a reading circle this week at Oodi Central Library in Helsinki. The Blue-Black group, which is too extreme to be allowed to form as a political party under Finland’s constitution, had exploited a loophole which allowed them to spontaneously show up and stage an event, without having to try and book a separate room. Their presence attracted dozens of protesters and created disruption in the library. Now, Helsinki City Council says it is updating its terms of service for anyone who wants to stage an event at Oodi, to prevent this kind of racist and fascist group hijacking the public space in the future.

Work. ‘Tis the season… January… when Finnish companies start to advertise their vacancies for summer workers - traditionally a hugely successful way for young people to get into the workplace, often with their first jobs. This week the S-Group has a call out to fill some 2,000 summertime positions.

🍹 Booze. What are the drinking trends to look out for in 2025? According to Finland’s state monopoly liquor stores Alko we will be seeing a rise in non-alcoholic drinks options; mixed drinks will be challenging beers for market dominance; and whatever is in your glass needs to look colourful for social media sharing. Kippis!

🌍 Extinction Rebellion. The National Police Board said this week it doesn’t intend to demand the dissolution of the Elokapina environmental protest group. This echoes a similar decision by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. There had been some calls to ban the group after a spate of protests in the autumn led to more than 1,000 arrests of activists. One Helsinki City Councillor Otto Meri (NCP) has repeatedly called Elokapina “eco-terrorists” and compared them to the banned neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement organisation.

☕️ Coffee. A Finnish roastery has come up with an ‘AI coffee blend’. Intrigued? Put the kettle on!

Insider politics

✈️ Plane. “Drunk Finns Party MP removed from flight” is the headline in Ilta-Sanomat, after the crew decided Tomi Immonen was too intoxicated to fly. Police were called when he refused to leave the Helsinki to Bangkok flight on Saturday evening. Mr Immonen took a breathalyzer test which reportedly showed him above the legal limit to drive. Departure of the flight was delayed about 90 minutes during the incident, and Immonen has apologised to the other passengers on board for the delay to their holiday.

📊 Poll. The latest Yle political opinion poll was released this week and showed the Social Democrats still in first place with 23.2% of support (although down by 0.8% since December’s survey). In second place are the National Coalition Party up slightly on 20% while the Finns Party are down in third place to 14.9%. The Centre Party remains unchanged since last month on 13.1% support.

Inequality. Finns Party leader Riikka Purra stumbled into a row over income inequality this week. Purra, who is the finance minister, wrote a blog post dismissing a survey which found that a top economic concern for Finns is income inequality. Purra said it is in fact among the lowest in the EU and that rising income inequality actually signals economic growth - and then she went on to blame the media for spreading misinformation about income inequality in the first place (as if people can’t see it or feel it for themselves!)

Social Democrat MP Eemeli Peltonen said that Purra should listen to peoples’ concerns and not downplay them. “Finland has a finance minister whose goal seems to be to increase income inequality. At least that has now been honestly told to the citizens, even though it is completely different from the speeches of the Finns Party before the elections. So every vote for the Finns Party is a vote for greater income inequality,” he said.

Green leader Sofia Virta describes Purra’s comments as arrogant, asking: "What does the minister have to say to the thousands of children the government has pushed into poverty?"

Finland international

🇬🇱 Greenland. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) says he thinks there’s a big difference between what Donald Trump says, and what he actually does. Orpo gave the comments in an interview with public broadcaster Yle on Saturday morning about the incoming US president’s inflammatory remarks about using economic or military force to take over Greenland.

"What we remember from Trump's first term is that his words can be tough and provocative, but his actions may not be,” the PM said.

"I don't believe in anything - I don't believe in anything, for example, armed action, even regarding Greenland.”

🇷🇺 Russia. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) wrote an op-ed in The Economist this week. In case you missed it, she is urging more/tougher sanctions against Russia, and says the West must hold its nerve because the economic pressure is working.

“Russia is far from an unstoppable force of nature. The autocrats who run it rely on a war economy that is unsustainable and shows serious cracks.”

🇺🇸 Valtonen has also commented on the notion that incoming US President Donald Trump could make some kind of favourable deal with Russia regarding Ukraine. At a Friday press conference, she told journalists that Finland’s message to the incoming US administration has been that no deal can be done “over Ukraine’s head”, and that European issues cannot be agreed upon without European involvement.

🇫🇮 NATO. Finland needs to figure out the best person to represent the country at NATO summits in the coming years. That’s according to former Centre Party leader, former government minister, former presidential candidate and most recently Speaker of Parliament Matti Vanhanen.

Mr Vanhanen notes that usually President Stubb would attend NATO events. However, if there’s discussions around budgets, or raising defence spending, then the president has no constitutional powers to make any promises or decisions in that regard. Vanhanen notes that other Nordic countries send their head of government, who usually does have the powers to make spending promises. Could this be a bump in the road for Finland?

🇮🇱 Israel. The Israeli government has reportedly blocked the appointment of former Finnish foreign minister (and three-time presidential candidate) as the UN’s new Middle East peace process envoy. The Israelis rejected Haavisto because of his perceived bias on a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, Ynet reports.

🇳🇦 Do you remember the €50m of ‘gift money’ which MPs distributed to their favourite projects at Christmas? MTV Uutiset reports that €250,000 of it has gone to a new association, set up just a couple of months ago. MP Ville Valkonen (NCP) was one of the politicians who approved the money for the Africa Association. Valkonen has close connections to Namibia, where he lived for six years as a child (he also has a Namibian wife), and he’s the chair of the Namibian Friendship Group in Parliament which does then raise eyebrows about how he was able to funnel such a large amount of money to a brand new association which aligns nicely with his own interests (although neither Valkonen nor his wife are members of the Africa Association).

🤔 As MTV Uutiset notes: “The Parliament's Christmas gift money is known for the fact that MPs are happy to distribute money to organisations related to their hobbies, home region, and partners.” And this was all happening at a time when tens of millions was being slashed from funding the arts and culture by the government.

🇻🇳🇵🇭 Employment. Minister of Labour Arto Satonen (NCP) is currently on a trip to Vietnam and the Philippines trying to encourage nurses from those countries to come and work in Finland, where there’s a shortage.

🇬🇪 Georgia. Kokoomus MP Pia Kauma had to cancel a planned visit to Georgia this week after criticism from other European MPs, and Georgian opposition politicians who said her presence might be used as propaganda by the new government. Kauma is the President of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly.

And finally…

💡 The annual LUX festival in Helsinki is a real highlight every January during the darkest days of the year, and photographer Ants Vahter has taken some incredible photos (as you would expect!) Here’s a gallery of some of his best LUX shots. The festival runs through Sunday evening so if you haven’t managed to catch it yet and you’re in the capital, there’s still time.

Thank you, kiitos, tack!

That’s a wrap on this week’s Finland Insider newsletter thanks for reading this far! If you’ve got any comments, tips, scoops or story ideas feel free to get in touch directly. Send me an email [email protected] and catch you next Saturday!

David