Refugees, rising unemployment, Nazi flags, and you are what you eat

Hello Insiders!

🎄 With snowy weather, colder temperatures, coloured lights in many shops and regular Pikkujoulu parties it is indeed beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. But I am hardcore when it comes to decorating for the holidays: there’s no tree or lights or tinsel in my house until after Independence Day on 6 December. I think we have to get one holiday out the way before starting to celebrate the next one!

And talking of Independence Day, at least one MP has said he would rather attend the nationalist 612 parade instead of attending the President’s Independence Day soiree at the palace. That’s a ballsy thing to say considering the baggage the 612 parade comes with - but more about that a bit further down in the newsletter.

Also this week: A very Russian scandal involving a senior Social Democrat MP; an update on that severed Baltic pipeline; foreign troops testing their weapons in Lapland; a call for the return of landmines; updated national nutrition guidelines and a vote of confidence in the interior minister (spoiler alert: she survived. But of course).

All that still to come, but first this:

Inside the headlines

Landmines. A citizen’s initiative, backed by an MEP and former presidential candidate, is calling for Finland to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention which bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. MEP Mika Aaltola (NCP) is the leading voice behind the new campaign, which is seemingly backed by more than half of the population, and President Stubb who said on Saturday that he’s looking at the issue to see what is in the best interests of Finnish security. The initiative begins collecting signatures on Independence Day, and if it reaches the 50,000 signature threshold, parliament will take a look at it (but with no legal obligation to act on it or introduce any new laws - there are numerous factors at play when it comes to Citizen’s Initiatives!)

Google. Internet giant Google has spent $27 million buying land in northern Finland, with a view to expanding its data centres.

Olympics. The outgoing Chairman of the Finnish Olympic Committee, former government minister and ex-Helsinki Mayor Jan Vapaavuori pulled zero punches in his farewell speech to the organisation. He slammed everyone from the minister of sport to the ministry of education and the media - especially Sanoma Group who he blamed for exploiting divisions within the Olympic Committee and national sports setup. He told his successor - - that the whole situation was “quite a mess” (which is hardly the ringing endorsement you want when you take over a new job!) Finnish Olympians had their worst summer games in recent memory at Paris 2024, in terms of the lack of medals won.

Refugees. Finland will take 500 UN quota refugees next year - from Afghanistan, Iran, Congo, Syria, and Venezuela. The Interior Ministry’s decision is a reversal of its policy to not accept quota refugees unless they were women and children from Christian countries, a controversial stance from the Finns Party which was widely reported (and widely criticised) during the autumn.

💣 Explode. British troops have been testing their new weapons on foreign soil for the first time (yay?) during Exercise Dynamic Front in Rovajärvi. It was the first tactical deployment of the British Army’s new 155mm Archer artillery system. The week-long event brought together over 5,000 troops from 28 NATO countries, collaborating on joint live-fire exercises. And this is all great, as long as Finland doesn’t turn into Europe’s Vieques Island, which the US military used as its own private bombing range for decades, to the detriment of the environment and the people who lived there…

Flag. The Supreme Court this week rejected a bid to hear an appeal over a previous ruling that flying the Nazi flag in public is incitement against ethnic groups. At a neo-Nazi rally in Helsinki in December 2018, which was attended by numerous far-right groups including Soldiers of Odin and the banned Nordic Resistance Movement, a number of swastika flags were flown as the demonstrators marched through the streets of the capital. Police eventually confiscated them. So legally in Finland, the swastika is not banned as such, but the courts have now ruled that flying it sends a clearly threatening, insulting and hostile message against immigrants and other minority groups.

612 rally. A Finns Party MP says he plans to attend the nationalist 612 rally in Helsinki on 6 December instead of attending President Stubb’s annual Independence Day celebration at the palace. Teemu Keskisarja cites his political ideology for not going to the palace. The 612 rally is a torchlight procession which makes its way through Töölö neighbourhood to the Hietaniemi cemetery on Independence Day each year.

📈 Unemployment. Finland’s unemployment rate rose to 8.1% in October 2024, up from 6.8% in the same month of the previous year, remaining at the highest level since June. The number of unemployed persons increased by 38,000 from a year earlier

Anniversary. Today (Saturday) marks the 85th anniversary of the start of the Winter War when USSR forces attacked Eastern Finland.

❄️ Weather. The coldest night of the winter (so far) was measured in Savukoski in Lapland on Thursday when the weather station recorded a low of -27.3°. But even with those cold temperatures, French news agency AFP reported from Rovaniemi this week where there’s a shortage of snow for Santa! Check out the video report:

🍔 Nutrition. You’ve heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well, I’m not sure what that says about Finns! This week the Finnish Food Authority unveiled its new national nutrition guidelines which urge people to eat less meat, eat more veggies, and cut back on drinking coffee and alcohol (two things Finns really love!) There’s also a new recommendation to eat less red meat specifically; and to continue to consume dairy products like milk even though there are non-dairy versions available.

🍴 Food. Apropos of nothing… S-Group published its own look at Finns’ grocery buying habits this week, and Helsingin Sanomat highlighted five products which have become increasingly popular in recent years: tofu, rice, spices, Rainbow trout and energy drinks.

️⚽️ Football. There was a no-score draw 0-0 when Finland’s women’s football national team faced Scotland on Friday night in Edinburgh. It was the first leg of their Euro 2025 playoffs - Finland are ranked 26th and Scotland ranked 23rd by FIFA - so there’s all to play for when Scotland travel to Finland for the return match. Personally, I’m supporting the team with the blue and white flag 🇫🇮🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Inside politics

Foreign affairs. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament resigned this week, and is taking a kicking from all sides. Septuagenarian Kimmo Kiljunen (SDP) was caught on camera giving a speech to a Finnish-Russian group in parliament at the end of October, and when the video surfaced it showed Kiljunen accusing Finnish tabloid newspapers of being malign hybrid actors. He also called for the eastern border with Russia to be re-opened, describing it as a “human rights violation”; and said that proposed new laws to limit Russian real estate purchases were “racist”.

Kiljunen resigned on Friday and the Social Democrats will choose his replacement as head of the Foreign Affairs Committee next week. And Kiljunen’s critics have not been slow in coming forward. Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho (Finns) said his remarks played into Russian propaganda messaging; while President Stubb said Kiljunen’s comments didn’t align with Finland’s foreign policy stance.

Sport. The next Minister for Sports and Youth looks set to be Mika Poutala, a Christian Democrat MP from Uusimaa. The current minister, Sandra Bergqvist (SFP) will rotate out as part of a deal between the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats that they each get a ministerial slot for half the term of the government.

Confidence. Interior Minister Mari Rantanen (Finns) won a vote of confidence in her brought by the Left Alliance and Greens this week. In fact she coasted through 119-52. The vote was called after Rantanen denied that religion was being used as a test for whether UN quota refugees would be allowed to come to Finland, despite documents surfacing which appeared to show that only women and children from Christian countries would be acceptable to Finnish authorities. As noted above, this whole policy seems now to have been discarded.

Salary. Former Centre Party MP Mikko Kärnä, who is now the municipal manager (aka: mayor) of the small town of Rautavaara in North Savo (between Kuopio and Kajaani) is demanding a big salary increase. Kärnä wants a monthly pay bump from €7000 to €9500, that’s a 38% jump, and in return he’s promising not to run for parliament during the next four years. Rautavaara has fewer than 1500 inhabitants. When he was an MP, Kärnä was known as a thorn in the side of his party, frequently outspoken, who seemed to campaign more for Catalan and Scottish independence than he did for his own Lapland constituency.

Insider international

Baltic cable. China says it’s ready to work with an investigation into what happened when two Baltic Sea cables were cut earlier in November. A Chinese ship has been the focus of attention in the incident. One of the cables went from Finland to Germany. According to the Wall Street Journal: “The probe now centers on whether the captain of the Chinese-owned ship, which departed the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15, was induced by Russian intelligence to carry out the sabotage.”

🇷🇺 Russia. A new survey from the Finnish Embassy in Moscow finds that the number of Russians with a negative view of Finland has not really increased over the last year, and the most positive attitudes towards Finland come from younger people. This year, 40% of Russians reported a positive attitude towards Finland, compared to 37% in 2023.

NATO. There’s been a slight drop in public support for Finland’s membership of NATO, a new survey from EVA revealed this week (but the level of support is still really high).

🇪🇺 EU. In yet another survey published this week, the regular Eurobarometer found 60% of Finns trust the European Commission; 83% of Finns consider themselves to be EU citizens; 67% of Finns are optimistic about the future of the EU; 44% of Finns have a positive attitude towards the EU; and finally 87% of Finns who responded to the survey say they support the euro single currency.

🇬🇪 Georgia. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen responds to the news this week that the government in Tblisi will halt their progress towards EU membership:

🇺🇦 Ukraine. Finnish defence and security company Summa Defence announced plans to partner with a Ukrainian company to build a new drone production facility in Finland and make more than 1000 UAV drones per year. Production will begin in the first half of next year. The “industrial-scale” UAV production will be part of the group's plans to establish a facility in Finland with its Ukrainian partners “to rapidly increase production capacity for drones used in combat in Ukraine.”

And finally…

🎅 Market. I know what I said at the start about Christmas decorations… but I’m a sucker for a Christmas market and here’s a reminder from photographer Ants Vahter that the Senate Square Christmas Market in Helsinki is now open for business, against a really magical backdrop:

Thank you, kiitos, tack

That’s all for now as we rush headlong towards the festive season and the end of the year so thanks for finding space in your busy Pikkujoulu schedule for reading Finland Insider! As usual if you have any thoughts, comments, story ideas or scoops please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me directly at [email protected]

See you next Saturday!

David