Zelenskyy, happiness, condoms, beer and politics

Hello Insiders! 

Good evening, and welcome to the latest Finland Insider newsletter, already the 12th of the year!

As usual there’s a ton of content to plough through which I think you’ll find as interesting as I do. Coming up this week Zelenskyy feted in the world’s happiest country as the Stubbs rolled out the red carpet for their guests from Ukraine. Plus a beer strike, a police strike, tons of politics news as we get closer to elections in April, including the latest opinion polls; and one more version of that Bara bada bastu song that’s undoubtedly stuck in your brain.

All that still ahead, but first this:

Inside track: Russia, Ukraine and Donald Trump

🇺🇸 The Foreign Ministry Ulkoministeriö has issued a travel warning for Finns going to America, concerning their gender. Anyone travelling on an ESTA or a US visa must indicate their gender as determined at birth. “If the applicant’s current gender as recorded in their passport differs from the gender they were assigned at birth, US authorities may deny entry” cautions UM.

💰 Aalto University is suspending its funding applications to the US over Donald Trump’s clamp-down on anything he considers to be ‘woke’ including diversity, environment, gender, minorities, Indigenous or climate crisis initiatives (among quite many other trigger topics!) “Trump has stated that federal money cannot be used for DEI programs, and this also applies outside the United States,” says Ella Bingham, Director of Research Services at Aalto University .

"We have now decided to temporarily suspend funding applications to the United States because we want to know whether Trump's policies conflict with Aalto University's values ​​and internal policies."

🇺🇦 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska were in Helsinki this week for an official visit, hosted by President Alex Stubb and Finnish First Lady Suzanne Innes-Stubb. Although the visit was announced and organised at short notice it still contained all the elements you’d expect from such an historically important trip: a visit to parliament, a conference at Helsinki University, an event for Zelenska’s childrens’ charity and a visit to a school for the First Ladies (why is it always a school?!)

☎️ While he was in Helsinki, President Zelenskyy had a phone call with US President Donald Trump, and Hesari takes a look at the room where that telephone call took place. The conversation between the leaders of the US and Ukraine was reportedly “positive, very substantive and frank”, according to Zelenskyy.

🇬🇧🇫🇷 Finland has strongly backed a British-French plan to build a so-called ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to provide military guarantees to Ukraine in the event the US proves to be an even more unreliable international partner than it currently is. President Stubb was recently attending a conference in London hosted by British PM Keir Starmer and this week military commanders met in the UK to talk about the nuts and bolts of what such support might entail.

However, all of this careful planning could be scuppered by the Americans, with the BBC reporting on Sunday that: “Sir Keir Starmer's plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as "a posture and a pose" by Donald Trump's special envoy.

Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a "simplistic" notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking "we have all got to be like Winston Churchill".

In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he "liked" the Russian president.

"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," he said. "He's super smart."

🌐 According to the Financial Times, the Nordic countries, Britain, France and Germany are preparing a plan for how financial and military responsibility within NATO will be transferred from the United States to European countries within 5–10 years. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) says that plans are being drawn up at a general level, but he hasn’t seen anything concrete.

🇪🇺 EU. Speaking in Brussels this week, PM Orpo (NCP) stated that Ukraine should join the European Union by 2030.

🤝 Another high-level Ukrainian delegation visited Finland this week. The Mayor of Espoo Kai Mykkänen hosted a group from Espoo’s twin city Kryvyi Rih. “We have done our part to help in the acute situation by donating furniture to schools and assembling energy equipment shipments from the Espoo region’s networks” said Mykkänen. The City of Espoo is also helping to retrain Ukrainian soldiers who come back from the front lines.

Inside the headlines

👮 Police. Helsingin Sanomat reported on Friday morning that police officers are preparing to go on strike. It would be their first strike action in 50 years.

🍺 A thousand brewery workers are already on strike at some of Finland’s most well-known breweries including Sinebrychoff, Hartwall and Olavi. The dispute is between unions and employers over a collective bargaining agreement. Although the strike goes on until next weekend, suppliers say that beer is not likely to run out in the supermarkets or in Alko stores.

🇹🇭 Finnish customs agents have busted a marijuana import operation, which was caught red-handed bringing drugs from Thailand to Finland using an express courier service. The drugs were to be distributed in the Uusimaa region.

😊 Happy. Finland has topped the list of the world’s happiest countries for the 8th year in a row. Factors for happiness include access to nature and a strong welfare system, apparently.

🏒 A professional ice hockey player is out for the season after suffering from a bad head and neck injury. Miro Keskitalo plays for Kiekko Espoo, and was body-slammed by a rival Tappara player on Saturday evening, and it doesn’t look like fun:

🍆 Torille? When it comes to condom use, and asking for consent before sex, Finns are apparently the best in the Nordic region. That’s according to some new research by the RSFU condom company. The report finds that in Finland, 72% of people use direct questions to ensure consent before engaging in sex. In other countries, the figures are lower: 60% in Sweden, 59% in Norway and 58% in Denmark.

🚇 Passengers on HSL transport in the capital city region can now pay for tickets using contactless payments on all modes of transport: metro, bus, commuter trains, trams and the Suomenlinna ferry.

🏃‍♀️ Athletics. Finnish pentathlete Saga Vanninen lived up to expectations to take gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China this week. Vanninen, 25, becomes the first Finnish woman to win a senior global combined events title. Last year at the indoor world champs in Glasgow, she got a silver medal.

🏠 A new study out this week from the Finnish Institute of Economic Research Etla finds that a hybrid combination of remote work and staff member actually being in the workplace is the most effective way to improve a company’s economic performance.

🏰 Open house. If you want a look at how the other half live, and you happen to be in Helsinki next Saturday, the President's official residence at Munkinniemi is open for visitors from 11:00 to 16:00.

Insider politics

📊 Poll. New public opinion polls ahead of April’s municipal elections show the Social Democrats with a slim lead over their main rivals the National Coalition Party. According to the new poll carried out for Helsingin Sanomat, Demarit is on 21.8% support with Kokoomus close behind on 20%. The Centre Party is trailing in third place with 15.5% while the Finns Party is a distance fourth with just 12.1% support.

🍀 Centre Party Secretary Antti Siika-aho says that April’s municipal elections, and votes for regional social and healthcare boards, are a de facto referendum on the right-wing coalition government.

✂️ Finance Minister Riikka Purra says she might have the list of her latest round of budget cuts ready to announce during the coming days.

✂️ In the meantime opposition parties have been pushing for exactly this type of clarity. Green Party leader Sofia Virta says Vihreät is ready to support the opposition's joint interim question on how the government intends to allocate its planned €170 million euros in social and health care cuts.

🙏 National Coalition Party MP Terhi Koulumies announced this week she’s suffering from a RARE type of blood cancer, but still plans to run for office in the municipal elections in April. I wish her a very speedy recovery.

Finland international

🇸🇳 Senegal’s Foreign Minister Yassine Fall was in Helsinki this week to meet with her counterpart Elina Valtonen. Finland opened a new embassy in the Senegalese capital Dakar a few years ago, and according to Ulkoministerö, the two foreign ministers discussed: “bilateral relations, European security and African security, as well as cooperation on multilateral issues.” The ministers were also set to talk about trade and economic relations.

🇸🇪🇳🇴🇫🇮🇩🇰🇮🇸 Did you know that Sunday 23 March is Nordic Day? The leader of the Swedish People’s Party Anders Adlercreutz is using the date to highlight the importance of Nordic cooperation and celebrating our region's unique community.

“When the world around us is turbulent and the familiar world order is being shaken, it is more important than ever that the Nordic countries remain united. Whether it is strengthening our preparedness, dismantling border barriers or combating climate change, we need a united Nordic region to make our actions bear fruit,” says Adlercreutz.”

And finally…

❄️ Fair warning: between now and the Eurovision Song Contest in May you’re going to be seeing every possible iteration of the Swedish entry Bara bada basta - an ode to sauna culture sung by a trio from Ostrobothnia called KAJ. So here’s one more video I liked this week, using a sledge to carry water to sauna. Looks idyllic from content creator Hiski Kaikkonen up in Lapland!

 Thank you, kiitos, tack!

That’s all for this week. As usual I applaud your fortitude if you made it all the way to the bitter end! The new Sunday evening schedule seems to have found its audience: I’m seeing a high percentage of subscribers opening the newsletter when it drops at this time of the week.

If you have any story suggestions, scoops or other ideas (or maybe you just want to say hello!) then drop me an email directly [email protected] 

Catch you again next Sunday!

David