Finland's anti-racism multishambles, Paralympic action and a possible Nokia sale to Samsung

Hello Insiders!

It’s that time of the week again, happy Friday!

This week I’ve mostly been looking ahead at what’s to come in parliament during the autumn session (yes, I’m a geek like that!) but it’s also been a time of planning for upcoming content at Finland Insider and working to grow the audience even more while still keeping it personal: so if there’s some topic you’d like to read more about, if you’ve got a story suggestion or scoop, please feel free to drop me an email [email protected] 

Coming up this week we’ve got a deeper look at the ongoing car crash as the government tries to prove they’re standing up against racism; also Greens in Europe, a possible Nokia sale, news from Ukraine, Finnish lessons and Paralympic stars in action.

All that is still ahead, but first this:

Insider Originals

Members of Parliament have been off since the beginning of July, and while I’m not saying they’ve not done any work in that time, a nice long six-week holiday sounds pretty sweet to most of us!

But it’s back to work next week with the official opening of the autumn session of parliament, so I reached out to some political contacts - mostly the Parliamentary Group chairs - to ask what their legislative priorities are in the months ahead, where they could push their own policy agendas (whether in government or in opposition) and where there might be areas to reach across the aisle and cooperate with other parties.

Here’s what they had to say:

Inside the headlines

Paralympics. The 2024 Paralympics are underway in Paris at the moment and Finland has sent 16 athletes to compete for medals in six different sports: athletics, horse riding, archery, table tennis, cycling and shooting sports.

There’s some familiar names on the roster including five-time Paralympic winner Leo-Pekka Tähti (British commentators called him “an absolute beast” on the track, as he carried the Finnish flag at the opening ceremony on Thursday night). Two-time Paralympic winner Toni Piispanen is also back for one last games: both Piispanen and Tähti will end their Paralympic careers in Paris.

Tech. Nokia is considering selling its mobile network business Samsung for €9 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Employment. The head of the Confederation of Finnish Industries has added his voice to the chorus of people, organisations, cities and regions urging the government to rethink its plans to kick foreigners out of the country after a strict three months (in most cases) if they lose their job and fail to find another one. EK is traditionally a strong supporter of the National Coalition Party and often moves in lock-step when it comes to the economy and employment issues. so it’s worth noting the strong dissenting voice here.

Ukraine. Helsingin Sanomat highlights yet another government cut: education establishments might not be getting more funding to teach Finnish to Ukrainians who have come to live, work and study here.

VAT. Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a €25 million tax penalty against the Sanoma Group. It turns out the publisher was sending all its magazines to Norway, and then shipping them back to Finland for distribution to somehow avoid paying VAT on them. Naughty!

Sport. Finland’s u-16 girls won the European Basketball Championships this week. President Stubb sent a letter of congratulations to the players. Torille!

Weather. ‘Tis that time of year, when (even more) changeable weather is upon us. Meteorologists are forecasting one more week of warm temperatures for much of the country next week, and then the possibility of overnight frosts!

Inside politics

Shambles. The right-wing government of Petteri Orpo (NCP) has got an absolute shambles on its hands. Not just a shambles, not just an omnishambles, but a multishambles I would say, over its handling of the new anti-racism campaign.

What is a multishambles? Well, the dictionary defines omnishambles as “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterised by a string of blunders and miscalculations,” so I’ll let you multiply that to arrive at the idea of what a government multishambles looks like. 

Orpo launched the campaign this week - it’s called ‘Action, Not Only Words’ in English - and his own cabinet ministers will have to undergo diversity training (oh, the irony, the bogeyman that currently haunts the far-right’s nightmares!)

But the Finns Party leadership initially made it known that while those specific MPs in government, ie: ministers, would support the initiative, the Parliamentary Group of Finns Party MPs as a whole wouldn’t be supporting it.

Huh? Surely it’s pretty simple, right? You’re either against racism, or you’re for racism. Apparently, it’s more nuanced than that. Finns Party leader Riikka Purra now says her party will support the initiative but not actually sign up to it. Which basically makes it not worth the price of the paper it’s written on.

And individual ministers and MPs from the Finns Party have been going out of their way over the last few weeks to rubbish the initiative, or dismiss the idea that there’s a problem with racism in Finland in the first place.

How did we get here? Last summer the incoming government was rocked by a series of racism scandals and the minority coalition partner the Swedish People’s Party demanded a new anti-racism strategy to keep them loyal in government. It’s taken more than a year but the strategy has arrived, and it’s been rolled out, but even before then it was boycotted by one of the biggest trade unions who called it “a dishonest attempt to cover up the government's historically discriminatory and immigrant-disciplining policy.” And the Mayor of Oulu also strongly criticised it recently saying it ignored regions and cities like his.

SFP. The former SFP leader Anna-Maja Henriksson, who is now an MEP, seems to rather enjoy not being part of the government’s anti-racism roll-out. Asked about it during an event in Turku this morning she said he was enjoying watching from the sidelines. Her comment came “with a laugh” Helsingin Sanomat reports. I bet it did.

Liike Nyt. The founder and sole MP of ‘boutique’ political party Liike Nyt - Movement Now - has put the boot into the government this week over the anti-racism strategy. Millionnaire businessman and reality TV star Hjallis Harkimo wrote on X, formerly Twitter:

“Prime Minister Orpo is no longer able to lead the government. Finns Party ministers are involved in the anti-racism campaign, but the Finns Party Parliamentary Group is not. Incomprehensible waffling and incompetent leadership.”

Liike Nyt has traditionally been very closely aligned in parliament with Orpo’s National Coalition Party.

Green. A Vihreät deputy councillor from Kirkkonumi has been elected as chairperson of the European Green Youth. Anja Presnukhina was voted at the organisation’s annual meeting this week in Dublin, Ireland.

Yle. Remember the seemingly manufactured furore from members of Kokoomus and the Finns Party, and their media surrogates, about the allegedly all-pervasive so-called ‘woke’ diversity training at public broadcaster Yle? Turns out everything seems to be in order, Yle has done nothing wrong, and it was all a fuss over nothing. That’s the preliminary conclusion from Kokoomus MP Sinuhe Wallinheimo who is chairman of the Yle oversight committee. Imagine that, eh?

Finland Insider asked Mr Wallinheimo if he would be rebuking his own parliamentary colleagues if it turns out they have been spreading disinformation about diversity and inclusion training at Yle. He did not respond.

Prayer. Christian Democrat leader Sari Essayah says that “Finland needs prayer.” Writing in Savon Sanomat newspaper, Essayah said that whether it happens in a government ministry, in parliament or in schools, she considers prayer to be “generally a positive thing.”

Finland international

EU. The European Union’s foreign ministers are meeting today, Friday, in Brussels to discuss Russia’s increased attacks on Ukraine, and the situation in the Middle East, as Israel continues its offensive in Gaza - which has already cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives since November last year.

Finland will be represented by Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen who says: “The entire international community must strive to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The EU's role in this work is central, and it should be further strengthened.”

On Ukraine, Valtonen confirms that “Finland has not set geographical restrictions on the armament it has given to Ukraine” and where/how they can be used (unlike the US and Germany, two particular sticking points for Kyiv).

Lithuania. A new investigation by Helsingin Sanomat this week highlighted the alleged close connections between one of Lithuania’s richest men and Russia’s state security services. The link to Finland? The business tycoon, Gediminas Žiemelis, has been flagged as a security risk in his home country. He owns the Helsinki Seagulls basketball team and an aviation company with extensive operations at Helsinki Airport.

Ukraine. A military blogger in Ukraine posted a video this week of what is purportedly Finnish military hardware in action against Russian forces in Ukraine:

DC. Finnish diplomats have been hitting the headlines in the States for their sauna diplomacy. Yes, this is the sort of article which crops up from time to time when a foreign journalist finds something they didn’t know about before, like baby boxes, and decides to write about it as if it’s a totally new concept. But it’s a fun article anyway.

And finally…

This video made me laugh and if you’ve spent any time learning Finnish it will make you laugh as well (or maybe give you PTSD - trigger warning!) Kiitos to the hilarious Meanwhile In Finland for putting this clip together:

Thank you, kiitos, tack

That’s all for week 35, thanks for reading to the very end. Don’t forget to follow Finland Insider across the various social media channels: Facebook, X / Twitter, Instagram & Insta Stories, and Bluesky. Like, click, follow, share, it’s all very much appreciated!

Bye for now,

David