Persut poll collapse, hockey bros, TikTok, Sandstorm and wolverines

Hello Insiders! 

This is a huge week for political news and I am here for all of it! There’s a dramatic polling bombshell you don’t want to miss, that sees one party slump like that friend we all know after too many shots of fisu.

There’s also renewed momentum for possible peace talks or at least a ceasefire in Ukraine, and Finland’s political leadership was involved in some high level discussions around that subject this week.

Also in the newsletter I’ve got news updates on that TikTok data centre which was recently announced with much fanfare, there’s political intrigue, a Hornet crash, press freedom in question, the Ice Hockey World Championships, wolverines, Eurovision, Finland’s favourite sweets, and Sandstorm’s 25th anniversary gets a big play.

All that’s still to come, but first this:

Inside track: Russia, Ukraine, America and national security

🇺🇦 Ukraine. President Alexander Stubb took part in a virtual meeting with other European leaders on Saturday, to discuss the war in Ukraine.

“Unity on unconditional 30-day ceasefire as of Monday. If not followed, a wave of new sanctions, closely coordinated with US. Ceasefire to be complemented by monitoring mechanism and followed immediately by negotiations for peace agreement. Important to work together with the US,” the president wrote on social media.

🇳🇴 JEF. Earlier this week President Stubb was in Oslo for a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a military alliance of mostly northern European countries led by the UK. During the visit, Stubb and Norway’s PM Jonas Gahr Støre had phone calls with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We discussed the situation in Ukraine and prospects for a 30-day ceasefire. Things are moving,” Stubb wrote at the time.

🇷🇺 Military. Satellite images have revealed significant new Russian military activity near Finland’s eastern border, with analysts citing increased troop accommodation, aircraft deployment, and infrastructure construction at key military bases. The images were obtained by Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

📊 Most Finns want the EU to have a stronger defence capability than it currently does, and think that taking on joint debt with other countries (a sacred cow for many Finns) to bolster defence would be okay. All of this comes courtesy of a new survey by EVA, the Finnish Business and Policy Forum.

🛩️ Crash. A fighter jet belonging to the Finnish Air Force crashed near Rovaniemi Airport in Lapland on Wednesday. Officials said the pilot ejected from the aircraft and was taken to hospital for treatment.

👩‍💻 Cyber. Finnish tech company Solita has been participating in NATO's Locked Shields 2025 exercise, which took place in Tallinn over the last few days. It’s described as the world's most advanced real-time cyber defense exercise, and this year was designed to simulate large-scale, real-time cyber attacks targeting national critical infrastructure.

🟢 Conscription. The Greens are calling on the government to develop a more gender-equal model of military service. Hmmm… where have I heard that before? Oh yes, it was literally one of the first articles I wrote when Finland Insider launched a year ago. Here’s the link:

🔴 Defence. Social Democrat MP (and former MEP) Miapetra Kumpula-Natri says that Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has revolutionised the European security environment, but there’s now a challenge to renew and upgrade our security and defence capabilities. “When we talk about a new joint debt and billions of euros to support defence, Parliament must have a genuine opportunity to discuss the terms on which large, important investments are made.”

🇪🇺 MEP Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP) used a Europe Day speech this week to remind us that the fight for Ukraine is a fight for the whole of Europe. “Ukraine is fighting with a knife to its throat. This is also our fight, the fight of the whole of Europe. Ukraine must win its defensive victory on its own terms, and Russia must answer for its unprovoked aggression and the brutal destruction it has caused,” she said.

Inside the headlines

🇨🇳 TikTok. Last week I reported the plans for Chinese-owned TikTok to open a billion-euro data centre in Kouvula. Well, what a difference a week makes! Of course a deal like this was going to come in for some serious scrutiny and the media and politicians did not fail us:

Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman (Finns) highlighted how TikTok was recently fined a huge amount of money for passing on data about EU citizens to the Chinese government, and he said that security concerns can’t be ignored.

And MP Jarno Limnell (NCP) - who worked as a cybersecurity expert before becoming a politician - is calling for the project to be put on hold until a proper assessment can be carried out:

“The TikTok-related data centre project must be suspended until the entire project has been thoroughly investigated and assessed from the perspectives of information security, national security, and geopolitical impacts,” the Espoo MP wrote.

“Data centres bring economic benefits to Finland, but considerations such as information security, national security and geopolitical impacts must also be taken into account, especially if they come from outside the West. It is worth consulting security authorities and their risk assessments before making decisions”.

💽 Yle reports the proposed data centre deal is a venture between an Indian billionaire who has done business with Donald Trump, recently visited the White House and met with Elon Musk, and a Chinese company. Yle describes it as “murky”.

⚖️ Voting. The Regional Prosecutor’s office says it’s dropping a criminal investigation into members of the Sámi Parliament Election Board in Inari, over voting rights in the 2023 Sámi Parliament election.

In short: Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court has routinely ruled that 63 specific individuals must be included on the Sámi electoral roll. However, the United Nations has criticised Finland for this, saying that only the Sámi Parliament can decide who goes on the Sámi electoral roll.

The police received more than 70 complaints, and had to investigate a possible crime, when the Sámi Parliament Election Board decided to run the 2023 elections without the names of these 63 individuals included on the roll, contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court.

Why does the Sámi Parliament Election Board not include these people in the electoral roll? Because it says they do not meet the definition of what an Indigenous Sámi person is. And as a reminder, the UN has said that ONLY the Sámi Parliament can decide who is a Sámi and who is not a Sámi. Even if the State of Finland still tries to rule and legislate otherwise.

Again: Issues of identity, culture and rights are highly emotive, and very personal, and we haven’t seen the last of this, for sure. The Sámi Parliament Election Board has now been essentially exonerated because the Regional Prosecutor’s office says there is no criminal complaint to answer to. But that’s still at odds with the rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court, which in turn is at odds with United Nations statements on the subject. Watch this space.

🤯 Mental health. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL published a report this week which highlighted that up to twice as many young people in some welfare areas report symptoms of depression, compared to other areas.

🏒 Hockey bros. The annual Ice Hockey World Championships got underway in Sweden this week, and the Tolvanen brothers faced off against each other in an unusual family situation: one of them plays for Finland, the other is Austria’s goalkeeper. Intrigued? Read more here.

📰 Media. The Association of Finnish Editors released a statement this week calling for clear independence between newsrooms and the companies which own them. It comes after the editor-in-chief of Keskipohjanmaa newspaper was fired, reportedly due to “differences of opinion” with the company’s CEO.

“Questioning the independence of editorial staff is a serious threat to press freedom and freedom of expression in Finland. Editorial staff must be independent not only from external parties, but also from internal pressures within the company,” the statement says.

✏️ Freedom. I wrote about press freedoms and how I think Finland should be weaponising its place near the top of the World Press Freedom Index, in Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat media column. Read more here:

🦝 Hugh Jackman. New satellite imagery shows that wolverines have been returning to the forests of southern Finland for the first time - in areas where the elusive predator was once declared extinct.

🍬 Sweet tooth. Food delivery company Foodora has compiled a list of the most popular sweets being ordered by Finns, and in a sign of budget-conscious times, it’s cheaper brands occupying the top 3️⃣ spots in the list. My favourite Fazer Sininen chocolate comes in only at number 4️⃣.

🎵 Eurovision. The semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest are taking place in Basel, Switzerland, this coming Tuesday and Thursday. And the current favourites to win are the Finnish comedy trio KAJ, representing Sweden. They were asked by drag queen Tia Kofi for a BBC programme who their favourite act of 2025 is… and none of them chose Finland’s official entry Erika Vikman with her shouty erotic composition “Ich komme”. Ouch / Auts!

Insider politics

📊 Poll. A new poll of voting intentions commissioned by public broadcaster Yle caused a political bombshell this week. It showed the Social Democrats consolidating their recent lead at the head of the pack: up 1.9 percentage points to 25.3%. In second place is Kokoomus up 0.6 percentage points to 20.2%. And the Centre Party has made a remarkable comeback under new leader (and former Minister of Defence) Antti Kaikkonen, gaining 1.4 percentage points to 15.6% which Keskusta will be very happy with indeed.

💣 Finns. But the biggest shock is the 4 percentage point drop for the Finns Party, falling to 11.4% support in fourth place. This is a huge slump for them - considering at the general election two years ago they received 20.1% of the vote very narrowly in second place behind Kokoomus. It was that strong showing in the parliamentary elections which led to them being included in the coalition government: described as Finland’s most right-wing government ever.

😠 Rebuke. Meanwhile, Riikka Purra was rebuked in parliament this week by the Speaker, her political mentor Jussi Halla-aho (Finns), after she accused the opposition of lying. The Speaker reminded her that MPs should not accuse each other of lying, in parliament.

🟡 Persut. And despite all the problems she’s facing at the moment, Purra (who is also the Finance Minister) says she’ll be running for another term in charge of the party. A vote will take place at the summer conference in mid-June.

🟢 Vihreät. The Greens will elect their new party leader at a conference in Hämeenlinna in June and there’s only one name on the ballot. When the deadline for candidates passed this week, only incumbent Sofia Virta had put her name forward. Congratulations in advance!

✂️ The leader of the Finnish Association of Education Professionals, OAJ, Katarina Murro, has resigned her membership of Kokoomus, in protest at the way the party has portrayed tax cuts and how they will affect union members. Now, PM Petteri Orpo says he will invite Murro for coffee and a nice discussion about the issue.

🔴 SDP intrigue. The Social Democrats in Helsinki will be voting this week between two politicians to take the position of Deputy Mayor for the Urban Environment, following April’s elections. Hilkka Ahde and Johanna Laisaari (the current deputy mayor in charge of education and training) are both on the ballot.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Wrong!

First of all, you might reasonably expect SDP MP Eveliina Heinäluoma, the candidate who received the highest number of votes in Helsinki, to take the role. But she’s turned it down and prefers to stay in parliament. And it has been reported that SDP’s leadership doesn’t want another of their MPs Elisa Gebhard to fill the role because she has clashed with Heinäluoma on some key issues.

Demarit party chiefs have had to refute suggestions that they’re trying to influence the outcome of the vote, and play down any disagreements about who gets what jobs, and who is in favour / out of favour. Party Secretary Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi says the Social Democrats is a “broad popular movement” which “can accommodate a wide range of views.” 👀

🔄 New job. MP Matias Marttinen (NCP) took over as the new Minister of Labour on Tuesday, in a pre-planned switch-out with Arto Satonen (NCP). Marttinen was previously the Kokoomus Parliamentary Group Chairman. Good luck in the new role!

🔵 Parliament. And with Matias Marttinen doing a new job, it means his old job is up for grabs. There are two main reported contenders to succeed him in charge of the Kokoomus MPs in parliament: Jukka Kopra from Lappeenranta, and Sinuhe Wallinheimo from Jyväskylä.

👶👶 Twins! Oulu MP Jessi Jokelainen (Left) gave birth to twins this week. “We are all doing very well - now all the time is spent wondering how they fit in my tummy and how they can be so lovely looking,” she wrote on Instagram. Congratulations on the new arrivals!

Finland international

🇵🇸 Gaza. Left Alliance MEPs Li Andersson, Jussi Saramo, and Merja Kyllönen sent a letter to Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) this week, criticising the government’s inability to act to condemn and stop what they called “genocide” in Gaza, and demanded “concrete action” from Finland.

On Thursday the foreign minister met with her EU counterparts in Warsaw to discuss the situation in Gaza, and said Finland supports the EU’s call for an end to the blockade by Israel.

🇳🇬 Nigeria. Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) suspects a former local councillor from Lahti, Simon Ekpa, of serious crimes, Yle reports. Following a preliminary investigation, the NBI said it suspects Ekpa of "public exhortation to an offence committed with a terrorist intent and of contributing to the activities of a terrorist group". The suspicions stemmed from a large-scale terrorism investigation carried out by the law enforcement agency.

🇪🇺 Awards. The European Finland Association selected three siblings for the European of the Year award. Dalia Stasevska, chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, documentarian-cellist Lukas Stasevskij, and journalist-pianist Justas Stasevskij were chosen for their work highlighting the importance of supporting Ukraine, including through art and music. That’s one very talented family right there!

🇩🇪 Germany. FM Valtonen (NCP) had a speech in Berlin cancelled at the last minute due to a security scare earlier this week. Luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm.

🇹🇭 Pizza. Thai green curry pizza? The new Kotipizza flavour gets the seal of approval from the Thai embassy in Helsinki but I’m not yet convinced! Ultimately I’m not sure if this helps or hurts Finland’s diplomatic relations.

And finally…

🎧 Sandstorm. Can you believe it’s been 25 years since the iconic track Sandstorm was released by Finnish musician and producer Darude? Time certainly flies! To mark the occasion, dozens of radio stations and shopping centres came together to play Sandstorm at exactly the same time this week, and it was just as epic as you would imagine!

Thank you, kiitos, tack!

🙏 That is all from Finland Insider this week, if you made it this far thanks for reading all the way to the end.

If you have any story suggestions, news tips, scoops, or you just want to say hello then feel free to drop me an email directly at [email protected]

See you next Sunday, and in the meantime have a great week!

David