Immigrant worker worries, hospital cuts, Helsinki mayor race and King Alex?

Hello Insiders!

I’ve had a post-Olympics hangover this past week, not quite sure how to fill 16 hours of my day without constant Paris action!

But of course there’s plenty of news to keep me busy, to the point where I was considering starting a regular section called “Crazy Shit Finnish Politicians Say” because each day there’s some new ridiculous interview or social media comment that seriously makes me wonder whether certain members of parliament are able to represent their constituents competently.

Anyway. In this week’s Finland Insider newsletter I’ve got all the politics news and analysis you didn’t know you needed; tough love for the government on unemployment and immigration; high-profile international visits to Helsinki - which will soon get a new mayor; a Finn doing unspeakable things with a packet of ramen noodles, and pondering whether President Stubb might make a good King of Finland?

All that still to come, but first this:

Inside the headlines

Hospital. The Helsinki and Uusima Hospital District HUS announced it needs to cut more than 900 jobs this week. The job cut talks will begin as HUS needs to slash its budget substantially. HUS employs some 28,000 people.

Riots. An investigation by public broadcaster Yle tracked down a Finnish neo-Nazi who was at the forefront of whipping up online agitation during the recent race riots in England. The Finn shared tips on how to burn stuff, and later ran a poll declaring himself a Jew-hater.

Olympics. The blame game has started in the aftermath of the Paris Olympics where Team Finland failed to win a medal of any colour for the first time ever. Matti Heikkinen, head of the elite sports unit of the Finnish Olympic Committee, says some tough choices must now be made.

“We can only succeed in international competition if we get the best athletes to follow a path at a young enough age, where they train in the best coaching, in the best conditions and next to the best support services and supported by sufficient skills, circumstances and financial resources.”

Charges. Two prominent persons are in trouble with the law this week. The deputy mayor of Tampere Ilkka Sasi (NCP) is facing possible sexual harassment charges; while the head of the Coast Guard in the Gulf of Finland Risto Jääskeläinen has retired suddenly, and is looking at potential charges over unspecified crimes which authorities describe as “serious.”

Economy. Credit rating agency Fitch has revised Finland’s economic outlook to “negative”, citing rising debt concerns.

Mpox. The first, more deadly, strain of mpox (formerly Monkeypox) has been confirmed in Sweden. Is there a risk here in Finland? THL’s Chief Physician Leif Lakoma says there’s no increased risk of mpox in Finland, and he tells MTV Uutiset that currently available vaccines are thought to offer good protection for at-risk groups.

Monarch. Finland doesn’t have a royal family - unlike Nordic neighbours Sweden, Denmark and Norway - but now Iltalehti is wondering whether Alex Stubb would make a good king. It could, they claim, help with a shortage of tourists. The experts assembled by the newspaper share their views, and while they agree installing a new royal family would generate international headlines for Finland, there are drawbacks: not least of which at least one royal castle would need to be built!

Inside politics

Stupid. Kokoomus MP Tere Sammallahti wrote this week that courts in England were fast-tracking sentences for “crimes of thought and opinion” in relation to the recent race riots. During the violence earlier in August, which followed the stabbing deaths of three young girls in the northeast town of Stockport by a teenager, quite a few Finnish right-wing MPs wrongly framed the civic disturbances as just ordinary people expressing their frustration at immigration policies.

Visas. The government is coming under fire, again, over its tougher visa policies. In short: Finland needs skilled workers to fill a shortfall in the market and hopefully make the country a wee bit more competitive in comparison to countries like Sweden and Germany. However, the government’s new rules mean that most non-EU nationals who lose their job will have just 3 months to find a new one or be forced to leave the country.

This week TEK, which represents the professional community of academic engineers and architects in Finland published a survey entitled “Finland drives out international experts.” Ouch.

“The societal debate on immigration is a major source of concern for international experts in the field of technology, with as many as 89% of them find the immigration debate worrying. Only 52% of the international tech experts surveyed would recommend Finland as a place to live and work.” Ouch again.

Yle interviewed an Australian engineer at Supercell, who said “if politics gets tighter and social attitudes become more negative, some of my friends may start looking for opportunities elsewhere.”

This week EK, the Finnish Employers Federation, harshly criticised the government’s plans to clamp down on work-based immigration, calling it a “serious mistake for the Finnish national economy.”

This latest criticism comes just a few weeks after an annual survey for Expat Insider found that Finland fell from 16th place to 51st place (out of 53) as a desirable place to work. Finland’s “digital prowess can’t compensate for the professional, financial, and social hurdles,” the report concluded.

Helsinki. The Mayor of Helsinki, Juhani Vartiainen (NCP) has announced he won’t be running for a second term in office when elections are held in 2025. The mayor of the capital isn’t directly elected, but the parties have traditionally put forward a candidate who campaigns on a mayoral ticket and then the party with the most seats in city hall usually gets the mayoral position. Another NCP politician, Deputy Mayor Daniel Sazonov has thrown his hat in the ring already.

Espoo. The race is on to be Espoo’s next mayor too. Environment Minister Kai Mykkänen (NCP) and Mervi Katainen (NCP) are two Kokoomus politicians who have announced their bid for the job leading Finland’s second-largest city. Mervi is the spouse of former prime minister Jyrki Katainen (NCP).

More stupid. Finns Party MP Laura Huhtasaari, a former presidential candidate who says doesn’t believe in evolution, and once claimed to be following a “Jewish diet” (sic) said this week that Finland should leave the euro and adopt the markka again instead. Huhtasaari, a former MEP, also got caught by Jyväskylä University plagiarising part of her master’s thesis.

Finland International

Estonia. Prime Minister Kristen Michal made his first foreign trip this week since coming to office, when he arrived in Helsinki. He had a sauna meeting with PM Petteri Orpo (a little regressive, no?) and also met with President Stubb.

Security and defence issues were top of the agenda for the visit, with Michal and Orpo hailing cooperation between the Baltic Sea neighbours. There were also talks about the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine has revealed a need for the defence industry to ramp up its production of wartime supplies. Finland has increased its ammunition production fivefold,” said PM Orpo.

Israel. MEP Aura Salla (NCP) is calling for sanctions against Israel, one of the first politicians from the right wing of Finnish politics to take such a position.

“Hamas is a terrorist organisation and I condemn its actions. However, the international community can no longer stand by while Israel bombs innocent people and tries to disguise it as a fight against Hamas. Sanctions against Israel are now needed,” she wrote on social media.

Salla is calling for extensive economic sanctions from the European Union against Israel, says that weapons sales should be halted, and has specifically said “genocide” is happening in Gaza.

Iran. Iran’s new president has nominated veteran diplomat Abbas Araghchi as the country’s next foreign minister. Araghchi was the Iranian ambassador in Helsinki from 1999-2003.

Nigeria, Ghana. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) visited West Africa this week, along with her Nordic colleagues. As you might guess, foreign and security policy were top of the agenda, with the Swedish foreign ministry describing Nigeria and Ghana as “stable democracies, important trading partners, key players in Africa and stand for a rules-based world order.”

The Finnish Foreign Ministry said "The weight of African countries in international politics is considerable and the commercial and economic importance of the countries has grown even more. By cooperating with countries like Nigeria and Ghana, we can achieve significant progress in, for example, work against global security challenges and climate change.”

China. The government in Beijing has admitted that a Hong Kong-registered ship damaged a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea with its anchor last autumn, but says it was an accident, not deliberate.

USA. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, visited Helsinki this week and met with President Stubb, PM Orpo, and Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen.

The South Carolina Senator did the one thing Finns love: he lavished praise on the country, gushing over Stubb’s golf-playing university days, Finland’s AI and quantum computing R&D capabilities, and ship-building prowess.

“The future of our economy and warfare itself will be determined by AI development, and Finland is way ahead of the game. there is no doubt their membership to NATO further strengthens the alliance,” Senator Graham said.

Torille, anyone?

And finally…

Maybe this whole section should be called “terrible crimes committed by Finns against food”? A couple of weeks ago we had the weird pizza made with pea soup sauce instead of a regular tomato-based sauce. And this week I present to you ramen noodles, milk, spices, pasta sauce and cheese. It looks okay when Instagrammer Jesse Heikkinen takes it out of the oven but I’m pretty sure this is not why ramen noodles were invented!

Thank you, kiitos, tack

That’s a wrap on this week’s Finland Insider newsletter. If you’ve got a story tip or idea then please get in touch with me directly at [email protected] 

Catch you next Friday, when I’m back with more original journalism looking at racism in Oulu, and the flag football world championships which are coming to Lahti, and also coming to the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028!

David