An Yle survey of MPs has found growing support for the legalisation of snus sales in Finland.
 Finnish politicians are becoming more open to legalising snus, an orally-ingested tobacco product that’s banned everywhere in the EU except Sweden.
 The Swedish People’s Party has previously supported legalising snus in Finland. But Yle's poll now finds that support for the measure spans the political spectrum.
 Residents can legally import up to 1kg of snus a day for personal use. However the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has proposed  lowering this allowance to 100 grams . Last year, the Finnish Medical Association (FMA) said the import of snus  should be banned altogether .
 Students reselling old snus
 Left Alliance MP  Merja Kyllönen  told Yle that while she’s not a fan of the substance, she wants the government to seek an EU exemption to the snus sales ban in Finland.
 "We’re not able to manage this problem. The black market is growing and more young people are using snus. I’ve even heard from teachers that students are reselling used snus,” Kyllönen explained.
 Proponents claim legalising snus sales would not only bring in taxes but also information on sellers and users.
 Finns Party MP  Juha Mäenpää  recently proposed legalising snus, drawing on figures from 2013 estimating that illegally imported snus would earn the state 40 million euros in taxes annually if sold in Finland legally.
 Approaching the issue from a substance abuse perspective,  Atte Harjanne  of the Greens said he supported legalisation as it would give health officials more control from a drug policy standpoint.
 In total, 49 MPs responded to Yle’s survey on whether Finland should legalise the sale and import of snus. Eighteen came out in favour of legalisation, 24 were against the idea and seven parliamentarians could not provide an answer either way.
 Even if Finland's legislature opted to legalise snus, changing EU policy would be an uphill battle.
 Kyllönen said that despite low odds of change happening anytime soon, she wants to call Sweden out as it is the only EU country allowed to sell snus within its borders.
 "How could Sweden get an exemption for a commercial activity happening within its borders that's causing problems in Finland?” Kyllönen asked.
 Health experts: No to legalisation
 The Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention (EHYT) pointed out that Finland has committed to making the country  smoke-free by the year 2030 —a goal covering all nicotine products.
 "Legalising snus doesn't support this goal," said  Hanne Munter  of EHYT.
 She told Yle that the snus industry has successfully  marketed the substance to young people, including girls .
 Finland's health watchdog THL has indicated that more teens are taking up moist tobacco, with 20 percent of boys and six percent of girls in Finland reporting daily use.
 Munter said that in addition to Facebook groups dedicated to selling snus, black market vendors are also active on Instagram and Snapchat. "Kids get snus from adults. It’s important that we don't raise another generation hooked on nicotine."


President  Sauli Niinistö  is to address the opening session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday evening Finnish time.
 Earlier in the day, he was scheduled to attend a state luncheon hosted by UN Secretary General  António Guterres  and a reception hosted by US President  Donald Trump , whom he will  visit next week at the White House .
 On Wednesday, Niinistö is scheduled to chair a panel discussion at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. The event is intended to weigh progress on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was launched four years ago.
 During the UN's opening week, the Finnish president is also meeting with his counterparts from Georgia, Poland and Kazakhstan. Also in New York for meetings this week are four Finnish cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto .
 On Tuesday, Niinistö  spoke about the responsibility of finance ministries  in tackling climate change at the UN Climate Action Summit.
 After fiery remarks by Swedish activist  Greta Thunberg , some 60 world leaders stepped up to the UN podium to deliver their messages and promises for the future of climate action.
 Niinistö's message was that only a "comprehensive transformation of our societies" could hope to help the world shift to carbon neutrality.
 Finland aims to be first carbon-negative industrial economy
 "Halfway measures are not enough. We have to align all our policies with effective climate action," Niinistö said.
 At the centre of his speech were the so-called Helsinki Principles, a set of guidelines for concrete action forming the backbone of an international coalition, co-chaired by Finland and Chile, which Niinistö said already has 40 members worldwide.
 "Climate action requires all the tools controlled by finance ministries. Taxation and budgeting, public investment and procurement – when these instruments work in our favour, a carbon-neutral world is possible."
 The president finished his speech with a pledge that Finland would commit completely to its target of becoming the first carbon-negative industrial economy in history.
 "The bar has been set very high. We want to lead by example. For that, setting targets is not sufficient. Achieving them is what matters," said Niinistö.
 Meanwhile in Helsinki on Tuesday, EU agriculture ministers discussed the role of soil carbon sequestration in slowing climate change. At an informal meeting hosted by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry  Jari Leppä , they considered ways to support carbon sequestration through the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).


The National Coalition was the only political party in favour of expanding a tunnel below Helsinki's city centre to ease traffic congestion when councillors met to discuss the issue on Wednesday.
 The Helsinki city council decided that it would not support plans to  build an underground tunnel that would run seven kilometers  from Helsinki's Sörnäinen district to the West Harbour.
 The Social Democrats, with 12 seats on the 85-member council, tipped the balance in favour of the nays.
 The SDP said the 1.4-billion-euro price tag was too expensive and that resources should instead be directed towards making Helsinki more walkable and improving public transit.
 “Developing public transport means improving access and lowering fares,” SDP councilor  Eveliina Heinäluoma  said.
 The Greens and Left Alliance have also said they reject the building of the tunnel.
 Proponents for the tunnel project have argued that it would offer an underground route for harbour traffic. To that end, the SDP proposed concentrating harbor traffic in Helsinki’s eastern Vuosaari district.
 “This is a loss for Helsinki residents,” said  Risto Rautava , a Helsinki city council member for the National Coalition Party, who has been a proponent of the tunnel, calling subterranean traffic the way of the future.
 Meanwhile, commenting on the council's decision from New York City, Helsinki Mayor  Jan Vapaavuori  told  Helsingin Sanomat , "In 20-30 years' time when there are fewer work places and services in the city, the traffic's a mess and harbours are struggling, we'll know whom to blame."


Finland's papers continue coverage of a  fatal attack  that took place Tuesday in the central city of Kuopio, in which one woman was killed and nine others injured by a  man carrying a sabre-like weapon . The assailant was also injured when he was detained by police.
 Kuopio paper Savon Sanomat  reports  that the attack was the first time in Finnish history that rescue services were alerted to respond to a "mass shooting", as emergency services only adopted the new response category this year. Police were alerted at 12:29, and by 12:37 they had apprehended the suspect.
 The nation's most widely-read daily Helsingin Sanomat reports  more details on the suspected attacker : 25-year-old  Joel Otto Aukusti Marin  moved to Kuopio from the municipality of Siilinjärvi in 2015 and studied in the same medical sciences vocational school programme with the deceased woman. The paper spoke with his student flat neighbours, who described him as quiet and introverted. One noted that police discovery of Molotov cocktails in the suspect's room could be linked to two local cases of arson in the area, as two nearby homes were burned to the ground recently.
 HS also reports on  comments from the Interior Minister   Maria Ohisalo,  who said the violent episode was "very rare in Finland, one of the world's safest societies". Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the minister said she could not discuss the details of the attack.
 "But I can take a position on what we politicians can do. There's been a lot of talk about increasing the number of police, and we made a decision on this in the budget. We also want to invest more resources in preventive work," she said.
 Six unanswered questions
 The tabloid Iltalehti outlines  six unanswered questions  surrounding the incident. What was the attacker's motive, it asks. A National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detective tells IL that social and mental problems are typically behind these kinds of incidents, but says he cannot comment on this case specifically.
 IL then asks about the relationship between the attacker and the deceased woman, also noting that most of the people wounded in the attack were female. It is still not certain whether the victims were targeted specifically or if they were randomly chosen. The NBI says the incident is being investigated as a murder case, but the suggestion that it was a premeditated attack is supported by the discovery of petrol bombs in the suspect's flat.
 It is also still unclear whether the suspect was carrying a gun and whether he used it. At one point, the police said the assailant was carrying a firearm but did not use it, but no mention was made of the firearm in the Tuesday press conference. The police said things would be made clear in the criminal investigation.
 IL wonders whether any substance abuse was associated with the attack, and if the assailant planned a murder-suicide attack but was foiled when he was seriously wounded by the police. The tabloid says this would explain the unused gun that police had reported earlier.
 Niinistö meets with Trump
 In other news, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  informs  readers that Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  will be meeting with US President  Donald Trump  on Wednesday in Washington. The leaders are to hold a press conference that will be streamed beginning just before 9pm Finnish time on  Yle Areena .
 Niinistö's visit includes a working lunch with Trump that will include agenda items such as US-Finnish relations, European and Arctic security, and commercial and technological cooperation.
 Editors of Savon Sanomat  suspect  that the Ukraine scandal may be drawn into the meeting in some way, but doubt that the issue will overshadow the proceedings. It quotes the Finnish President,  speaking from the UN Climate Meeting  last week:
 "I'm not frightened of anything. It is up to the US reporters. I think they will be interested in the subject, but it doesn't bother me," he said.


Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  again meets his US counterpart  Donald Trump  at the White House on Wednesday.
 Ahead of the meeting and joint press conference, press attention focused more on Ukraine than Finland.
 Before meeting Niinistö, Trump had not taken part in a press conference for more than a week, during which time Democrats in the House of Representatives have ramped up impeachment proceedings focusing on interactions between Trump and his associates and Ukrainian officials including President  Volodymyr Zelensky .
 The Finnish and US presidents have both met recently with Zelensky.
 On the sidelines of the  UN Climate Action Summit  in New York last week, Niinistö was asked if he was worried that the Ukraine issue would overshadow his meeting and news conference with Trump.
 "I'm not frightened of anything. It is up the US reporters. I think they will be interested in the subject, but it doesn't bother me," he replied.
 According to Niinistö's office, the presidents were to talk about "opportunities to increase cooperation between Finland and the United States, including European and Arctic security" as well as ways "to advance shared interests in commercial and technological cooperation".
 Trump may try to sell fighter jets
 Security expert  Hans Binnendijk  tells Yle that the Trump administration is particularly interested in Finland's views and know-how in issues related to Russia and the Baltics as well as countering hybrid threats.
 Story continues after photo
 Hans Binnendijk, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council Nina Svahn
 Binnendijk is a former defence policy assistant to President Bill Clinton and now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank focusing on ties between North America and Europe. He spoke to Yle in Washington after a recent visit to Finland hosted by the Finnish Defence Ministry.
 He says that the US hopes for closer defence cooperation even though Finland is not a Nato member.
 Binnendijk notes that Finland and Sweden signed a three-way pact on defence cooperation last year, adding that the two Nordic countries are "in many ways better allies than some of our official allies".
 He says he would not be surprised if Trump urges Finland to order new Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet or Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F/A-18 Hornets.
 Flurry of recent meetings
 When Niinistö and Trump previously met at the White House in August 2017, the US president falsely stated that Finland had already decided to order more Hornets, triggering a  rare correction  from Niinistö's office.
 Story continues after photo
 Niinistö and Trump in August 2017 Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
 The two met again in Helsinki in July 2018 when the US president met with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
 This year,  Niinistö met with Putin  for the second time this year in late August in Helsinki, followed by mid-September talks  with Zelensky in Kiev . Trump briefly met both Niinistö and Zelensky last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's opening events.
 Niinistö, who is on an official working visit to the US laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday.
 On Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to welcome him at the White House's South Portico at noon local time, proceeding directly to an Oval Office meeting and a working lunch to begin around 12:45.
 At 2pm local time (9 pm Finnish time), the two leaders are to hold a joint press conference in the East Room or the Rose Garden – where temperatures are predicted to rise to around 35 degrees Celsius.
 Yle Areena will  livestream the event  beginning around 8:50pm Finnish time.


Threats to schools
 In the wake of the  Kuopio tragedy , Helsingin Sanomat  takes a look at threats to schools , which occur more often than you might think in Finland.
 In the years 2007-2009, 77 people were referred to psychiatric care after threatening violence at a school. In 2010 that number dropped to just nine, although HS does not give more recent numbers.
 The typical threat comes from a young man, often with a mental health issue, according to HS. Around 40 percent of those who receive psychiatric care after making a threat had experienced bullying in school, and a third had been customers of child protection services.
 There are common threads among those who have actually perpetrated attacks. They include an interest in firearms, mental health issues, a long history of bullying in school and difficulty in resolving conflicts.
 However  Henri Rikander , a safety and security consultant interviewed by HS, says that it’s impossible to build a profile of possible attackers.
 Those planning attacks, however, may give warning signs in the lead-up. Rikander cites research suggesting that in 90 percent of cases researched in the US, an adult was concerned about the attacker’s behaviour in the lead-up to the attack.
 Posti departure ramifications
 The news on Wednesday that Posti CEO  Heikki Malinen  would  resign from his post  would have received considerably more attention had it occurred at a different time.
 As it was, the sword attack in Kuopio and Niinistö’s visit to Washington overshadowed Malinen’s departure, but business daily Kauppalehti does devote  some space  to it on Thursday.
 Malinen departed after controversies over his  generous compensation package  combined with a plan to  slash pay for workers in sorting officers , which were slammed by unions and politicians, and also in the media.
 KL is concerned that Malinen’s treatment in the media and by politicians might deter other qualified individuals from applying to lead state-owned firms.
 Editor  Arno Ahosniemi  says in a comment piece that this is already happening, as head hunters are finding it tough to persuade candidates to take on state-owned firms.
 Ahosniemi links Malinen’s fate to previous instances of political pressure on the leadership of state-owned firms, suggesting that this political impulse to act is reducing the likelihood of good candidates taking on big jobs--and damaging the interests of taxpayers.


The Finns Party stretched its lead in the October edition of Yle’s monthly tracking poll, with just over 20 percent of voters saying they’d back the party.
 The party came within 8,000 votes of being the biggest party in parliament after  April’s election . If they had done so they would have had the right to try and form a government.
 Soon after the election polling figures turned and the party overtook the SDP.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne ’s SDP, meanwhile, recorded its lowest result since the summer of 2017, coming third behind the National Coalition (NCP).
 The 15.6 percent support recorded this month isn’t as low as that polled in 2015, when the Social Democrats dipped below 15 percent.
 The Centre Party seems to have recorded a slight boost in support after the election of  Katri Kulmuni  as chair, with polling figures up 1.2 percentage points on last month.
 All changes in polling were within the margin of error.
 Taloustutkimus performed the research for Yle, interviewing some 2,446 people between 9 September and 1 October. The margin of error is 2.0 percentage points.


The trial of Finns Party MP  Sebastian Tynkkynen  began on Thursday in the Oulu District Court. A lawmaker from the northwest municipality where the proceedings are being held, Tynkkynen is suspected of agitation against an ethnic group in a 2016 Facebook post on Islam and terrorism.
 Representing himself in the proceedings, Tynkkynen denied having committed a crime and said that the trial was politically-motivated.
 The prosecutor in the case maintained that Tynkkynen must have known that his Facebook update was racist in nature and constituted defamatory hate speech generally directed at Muslims. The prosecution called for the court to impose a 60-day fine for the offence.
 The  unofficial English translation  of Finland's Criminal Code in this area makes it illegal for a person to "make available to the public or otherwise spread among the public or keep available for the public information, an expression of opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted on the basis of its race, skin colour, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or a comparable basis."
 Possibility of third trial looms
 In his response to the district court, Tynkkynen compared the case to previous trials of two other prominent members of the nationalist Finns Party, MP  Teuvo Hakkarainen  and current chair  Jussi Halla-aho . Both men were convicted on charges of ethnic agitation,  Hakkarainen  in 2017 and  Halla-aho  in 2012.
 Some thirty or so people turned out to follow Tykkynen’s trial in Oulu, including some of his supporters and members of the media, prompting officials to move the proceedings to a larger space.
 Tynkkynen was  already convicted  once in court in 2017 for Facebook comments he posted in 2016. At the time he was found guilty of ethnic agitation and the separate crime of breaching the sanctity of religion.
 A third case is also pending, concerning Facebook posts Tynkkynen wrote in 2017, which have also placed him under suspicion of inciting ethnic agitation. Oulu police have referred that case to the district prosecutor for consideration of charges.


One third of municipal decision-makers and almost half of MPs or their aides have been the target of hate speech due to their work, according to the findings of a new collaborative survey from Open Knowledge Finland, the University of Jyväskylä and Punos Research.
 Two thirds of the lawmakers responding to the poll said they believe that public discourse has triggered more hate speech in recent years.
 “Hate speech can often be prompted by impulsive actions, but it can also be used deliberately to exert political pressure. In these cases, the aim is to silence a certain individual or political view,” says Open University Finland researcher  Aleksi Knuutila .
 Respondents to the survey who had been the target of hate speech said it affected their work significantly. Half of municipal decision-makers said it had reduced their trust in people they did not know, and 42 percent said they were less willing to participate in public debates. Many said that had left or had considered dropping out of politics because of the feedback.
 The first of its kind, the study entitled "Ruled by hate: Hate speech aiming to influence decision-making in society" explored the extent and nature of hate speech and its impact on decision-making. It made use of 14 thematic interviews, interactions on Twitter, and more than 1,300 questionnaires that were returned from the Finnish Parliament.
 For purposes of the study, hate speech was defined as "degrading, threatening or stigmatising expressions that relate to the personal characteristics of the subject or are motivated by intolerance".
 200 accounts responsible for half of hostile Twitter messages
 Many politicians who participated in the study said they felt that their involvement in a particular political party was the reason for the hate speech. The aim of hate speech was not just to influence the party’s decisions, but also to persecute decision-makers for being a member of the certain party, the report on the survey concluded.
 The study identified 200 Twitter accounts that were responsible for about half of the hostile Twitter messages sent to lawmakers in Finland. About 75 percent of the offensive tweets came from people who are against migration.
 The report also linked decision-makers' social media activity with the amount of hostile feedback they received. As a rule, MPs who tweeted more than 500 times during the research period were exposed to significant hate speech. In Finland, party leaders do not tend to be as active on Twitter, but during the 2019 parliamentary elections, each of the chairs received hate speech communications, with the exception of the Blue Reform party's  Sampo Terho  and the Swedish People's Party's  Anna-Maja Henriksson .
 "Men with immigrant backgrounds, like the Social Democratic Party (SDP)'s  Abdirahim Hussein , the Greens'  Ozan Yanar , SDP's  Hussein al-Taee , and the Left Alliance's  Suldaan Said Ahmed  sent far fewer tweets, but nevertheless encountered a lot of harassment," the report reads, adding that the results show that candidates with immigrant backgrounds are easily targeted.
 The survey suggests that the threat of hate speech alone impacts political participation. Even decision-makers who reported no hate speech say that the threat of it has reduced their willingness to participate in public discussions.
 Inadequate measures to address problem
 The survey and the interviews both found that lawmakers consider current measures against hate speech in Finland to be inadequate. Election candidates and members of municipal councils say they are often left without support in the face of such harassment.
 The researchers behind the report propose other measures to clamp down on the problem, beyond legal actions. They make a case for stronger value leadership, whereby decision-makers would condemn hate speech more harshly. They also advise that Finland define the limits for acceptable speech in political activities, and encourage more responsible social media platform monitoring.
 The survey was carried out as part of the implementation of the Government’s plan for the analysis, assessment and research activities in 2018.


Four months into its term, the Finnish government led by Social Democratic chair  Antti Rinne  easily survived the first vote of no confidence brought by an opposition party.
 The interpellation fell by a vote of 97-75, with MPs walking up to cast traditional paper ballots due to a glitch in the electronic voting system that usually lets them vote from their seats.
 The second-largest opposition party the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) had filed the interpellation over the issue of employment, demanding that the six-party government explain what concrete measures it will use to reach its employment target of 75 percent.
 In Parliament on Tuesday, the NCP asked government ministers to explain how much was being added to next year’s budget in permanent expenditures compared to permanent revenues, and how the cabinet intended to balance the budget by the end of its term if employment does not improve as it hopes.
 Ministers responded to the questions, insisting that employment measures were proceeding according to plan. They detailed spending increases and other adjustments included in their budget framework plan agreed in late summer.
 The cabinet sailed through the vote by a margin of 97-75 in the 200-seat legislature.
 Technical glitch leads to rare procedure
 The results of the vote were delayed due to problems with parliamentary voting devices.
 Deputy Speaker of Parliament  Juho Eerola  of the opposition Finns Party, who chaired the plenary session, first delayed the vote by five minutes to look into the technical issue.
 As that did not suffice, it was decided to carry out the vote by casting old-fashioned paper ballots. Explaining the now-rare procedure to MPs took some additional time.
 The NCP did not ask the largest opposition party, the nationalist Finns Party, to co-sign its challenge, saying that it did not want to make compromises in its wording. The only non-NCP lawmaker to sign on to it was businessman  Harry Harkimo , the sole representative of the Liike Nyt (Movement Now) group.


Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  hosted his Swedish counterpart  Stefan Löfven  on Saturday in Helsinki. The two Social Democratic premiers discussed issues on the agenda of the EU summit on October 17-18, including Brexit and the long-term EU budget framework through 2027. Rinne and Löfven also talked about sustainable growth, Baltic Sea protection and Arctic issues.
 After their bilateral talks, the two took part in a panel on the future of the Nordic welfare society as part of the SDP's weekend Future Forum seminar in Helsinki, hosted by party secretary  Antton Rönnholm .
 The two discussed efforts to slow climate change, expressing concern over climate change deniers and those attacking young activists such as Sweden's  Greta Thunberg .
 At a joint press conference, they concentrated on EU affairs. Löfven voiced support for a proposal championed by Rinne whereby granting of EU subsidies to member states would be linked to adherence to the rule of law.
 Along with the climate, it has emerged as a main theme of the first half of Finland's six-month EU presidency term, which ends in December.
 Löfven, 62, became the leader of Sweden's SDP in 2012 and has been PM since 2014. Rinne, 56, took the reins of the Finnish SDP in 2014, becoming premier in June this year.
 Johnson agrees to Brexit proposal schedule
 Regarding Brexit, Rinne said that he and Löfven had both planned to speak with British Prime Minister  Boris Johnson  on Friday but that the calls had been cancelled.
 Rinne's office issued a statement early Saturday evening saying that he had spoken with Johnson about his latest Brexit proposal, which was rejected by many EU leaders last week.
 "I told him that the proposed solutions would not ensure adherence to the Good Friday agreement nor the EU's integrity and functioning of its internal markets," Rinne said in the statement.
 "I told Johnson that it is important to find a solution within a week so that the matter can be properly considered at the October European Council. Johnson said that he agreed on this timetable," he went on to say.


Finland's Parliament began debate on Tuesday over the first  state budget proposal  put together by the left-leaning government of Prime Minister  Antti Rinne . Budget discussions will continue throughout the week, and after this, the draft budget will head to various parliamentary committees for further assessment.
 The current government budget proposal would increase the state budget to 57.6 billion euros next year, or 2.1 billion euros more than this year's budget total. Most of the increase is due to implementation of the four-year Government Programme, the cabinet's policy agenda for the next four years.
 The draft of the budget being considered on the parliamentary floor is two billion euros in the red, which means that the national debt would rise to 109 billion euros next year.
 Ministry: Poor economic growth won't help unemployment
 Finland's Ministry of Finance predicts that  economic growth will slow down  next year by one percentage point to just one percent growth in the coming years. This slow economic growth will not help the job market, the ministry reasons, as it forecasts a peak employment rate of only 73 percent by the year 2023.
 Rinne's government has justified its added state budget expenditures and reforms as necessary to push Finland's employment rate to 75 percent by 2023. One of the main goals of the government is to create jobs for 60,000 people, together with Finland's leading labour market organizations.
 Vote of confidence is taste of things to come
 A hint of what kind of parliamentary floor debate will be in store came already last week, when the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) called for a  confidence vote  in the government over spending. Critics in the party have  criticized  the Rinne government for raising taxes and increasing state expenditures with no guarantee of added revenue. The interpellation fell by a vote of 97-75 on Friday.
 NCP chair  Petteri Orpo  warned in August that Rinne government's economic policies will bankrupt Finland, but he later softened his tone and said that Finland was "on the road to repeating what happened in Greece".
 The NCP has pushed Rinne's coalition to prove that they have concrete employment-boosting measures in place to reach their 75 percent employment target. They say that from where they sit, it looks as though their plans will weaken the job market instead of improve it.
 Jussi Halla-aho , chair of the nationalist Finns Party, Finland's largest opposition political party, has said that he feels the government's employment calculations are irresponsible in light of the weakening global economy.
 Finns Party politicians have also opposed increases to development cooperation funding and fuel taxes.
 First review in August 2020
 Finance minister  Mika Lintilä  will present the government's revenue and expenditure proposals to the Finnish Parliament this week.
 In discussion surrounding last week's confidence vote, Lintilä stressed that the government was committed to achieving its 75 percent employment goal and balancing public finances by the year 2023, providing economic growth remains normal.
 Finland's government has calculated that in order to reach its 75 percent target, it will have to create 60,000 new jobs by 2023. It says it will do its first review of the situation in August 2020, when the methods it will use to create 30,000 jobs should be known.
 Prime Minister Rinne has made several references to an entry in the  Government Programme  that says the government will pursue a counter-cyclical or stimulus-based economic policy if the global economy, eurozone economy, or the domestic economy were to fall into a severe economic downturn.
 NCP chair Orpo says that the government is in his view wasting stimulus money next year, as the economy is forecast to continue feeble growth.


An Oulu court has slapped Finns Party lawmaker  Sebastian Tynkkynen  with a 50-day fine after convicting him  on charges of ethnic agitation . The total fine amounts to slightly more than 4,000 euros.
 The conviction came over texts and images Tynkkynen posted on Facebook back in 2016. According to the court, Tynkkynen’s writings about Islamic groups were premeditated, racist in nature and constituted defamatory hate speech that targetted Muslims and were likely to provoke contempt and even hatred based on intolerance of Islamic groups.
 The court ruled that Tynkkynen must have understood that there was a clear connection between the images and texts he posted and that his audience would have understood him to mean that all Muslims are terrorists. The prosecutor originally called for the court to impose a 60-day fine on the defendant.
 Second conviction for same offence
 Tynkkynen indicated on Thursday that he intends to appeal the verdict and sentence, arguing that his Facebook posts are not a punishable offence.
 "An update that defends the security of Europeans and Finns should not result in a 4,000-euro fine," he declared.
 The court also ordered the Oulu lawmaker to remove the posts from Facebook and Instagram.
 Thursday’s conviction is not the Finns Party MP’s first. He was also convicted of ethnic agitation and breach of religious peace in 2017 and sentenced to pay a 50-day fine at the time.
 He is also suspected of another instance of ethnic agitation in another Facebook post in 2017. Oulu police have investigated this case and referred it to local prosecutors for consideration of charges. A decision has not yet been made on the matter.
 Finns Party chair: No sanctions from party
 Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  said he does not believe that Tynkkynen will face any consequences as a result of his second conviction.
 "Of course this is something one dare not say or you might end up in court: it’s not terribly controversial to say that Islamic terrorism is linked to the worship of Allah and it is my understanding that that is the reason for Tynkkynen’s verdict," Halla-aho commented.
 The Finns Party chair questioned the conviction and pondered whether or not legislation regarding ethnic agitation was up to date. He called for clarification of that part of the statute and for improvements to its legal certainty.
 "The agitation clause seems to be becoming a kind of perpetual motion machine, or a charge-and-convict dispenser that is targetting Finns Party politicians," he remarked.
 "To my understanding, Tynkkynen said that Islamic terrorists are linked to the worship of Allah. The judicial system has now apparently declared that it is illegal to say this. This almost absurd interpretation of the law undermines the credibility of the prosecution service and the judiciary," the party leader said.
 Finns Party parliamentary group chair  Ville Tavio  noted that the sentence is not yet enforceable, as an appeal may be pending. As a result the parliamentary group will not take any action regarding the case.
 Police are currently investigating suspected ethnic agitation offences involving three other Members of Parliament. They are ex-Christian Democratic Party chair  Päivi Räsänen ,  Hussein al-Taee  of the Social Democrats and  Juha Mäenpää  of the Finns Party.


Turkey’s military campaign in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria will complicate relations in the Middle East and force people to flee their homes, according to Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö . It will also place the Nato military alliance in an awkward position, Niinistö said in an Yle interview on Thursday.
 On Wednesday evening the Finnish government called on Turkey to end its bombardment of northern Syria and said that it does not condone Ankara’s actions.
 "It must of course be condemned, Finland has said so. Last night the EU also found consensus on it," Niinistö pointed out.
 Turkey aims to create a so-called security zone in Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria and intends to use it to accommodate people who are fleeing violence in Syria. Niinistö described the plan as a mass displacement.
 "Turkey, which in itself has borne responsibility for three million refugees, would now like to push them into this so-called safe zone that apparently it must first annex from the Kurds. At the same time the Kurdish population will have to flee the area," Niinistö observed.
 The president speculated that some people will suffer in the Turkish attack, while others will benefit. However he noted that the Kurdish people under attack will always suffer.
 "Perhaps Syria, Iran and even Russia too stand to benefit," he conjectured.
 People on the move
 The Kurdish population has begun to move to escape the air raids and artillery fires and have been heading to southernmost Kurdish areas. Niinistö pointed out that whenever people start moving, they will head somewhere.
 The target of the Turkish military campaign also includes areas close to the al-Hol refugee camp, where former Isis fighters are being held. It has been estimated that the Kurdish authorities do not have enough resources to guard the camp while fighting against Turkey. According to information obtained by Yle, EU foreign ministers will discuss Syria and the al-Hol situation on Monday.
 Niinistö said that he considers Turkey’s actions in Syria as descriptive example of a geopolitical puzzle. For example EU countries have used Turkey as a buffer state to take care of millions of refugees in exchange for money, he noted.
 "There are competing interests. You suddenly notice that your worst enemy may have something on which you are yourself dependent. And conversely, your best friend may be someone one who’s not all that pleasant. This is unfortunate but this is the geopolitical puzzle," he commented.
 No advance warning of US pullout
 Niinistö said that Turkey’s campaign in Syria did not come as a surprise. He noted that Ankara had long planned a safety zone and had previously conducted raids and bigger operations in Syria. At the same time, the United States and President  Donald Trump  in particular has long wanted to disengage from Syria. Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from the region offered Turkey an opportunity to act, he said.
 Niinistö said that Trump did not indicate that he planned to withdraw from Syria when the pair met in Washington last week.
 He said that he noted that a few days ago Trump announced that the US would only be involved in conflicts that advanced American interests.
 "I think quite many [people] are wondering about the scope of this announcement. We all know that he has been quite reticent about the role of world police and that has also prompted criticism in EU. The US may now be missed in that role."
 The president said that Europe must now think about the changing role of the US, noting that Nato is also in an odd position. Turkey is a Nato member, as is the US. According to Niinistö, the current situation means that two Nato member states are "quite involved" in Syria. Nato has not condemned Turkey’s actions, but some of the EU states that have denounced them are Nato members.
 Niinistö said he doesn’t believe that Turkey’s attacks in Syria will ease the situation.
 "How could there be balance when bombs are flying? This will definitely complicate the situation further," he concluded.


Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  has applauded the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize of 2019 to Ethiopia's Prime Minister  Abiy Ahmed .
 "He is a driver of efforts to open up his country and has influenced things in many ways. Ethiopia's relations with its neighbour Eritrea are now better," the foreign minister said.
 Haavisto said that in addition to re-establishing communication lines with Eritrea, Abiy Ahmed has played a significant role in the recent peace process in Sudan.
 "He supported the groups of people that were the first to march in the streets and demand change. He also supported the peace process that took place over the summer, in which the military officials and the populace agreed to form a joint interim administration," he said.
 "He is very dynamic"
 Haavisto has visited the east African countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia dozens of times and says he knows the Ethiopian prime minister personally.
 "I have met him several times. He is very dynamic and represents a younger generation of African leaders that have done very much in the area," he said.
 The Finnish foreign minister said Abiy Ahmed has also had an outsized influence in the development of the continent as a whole.
 "If you think about the transformation processes in the major countries of Africa, such as Ethiopia and Sudan, then in this respect Africa is changing because of him," Haavisto commented.
 Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto Photo Edijs / EPA
 The Nobel Committee said in a statement that there are still tensions between ethnic groups in Ethiopia that could flare up violently. The committee justified its decision by saying that Abiy Ahmed's efforts deserve recognition and need encouragement at this time.
 According to Haavisto, the stability of the situation must be monitored.
 "In Ethiopia, too, there were unfortunately attacks on politicians in the summer that undermined the country's development. Peace can easily be shaken if you're not willing to work for it," he said.


Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  congratulated fresh Nobel peace laureate Prime Minister  Abiy Ahmed  on an official visit to Ethiopia that started on Tuesday — Niinistö's first official trip to Africa.
 Niinistö met his Ethiopian counterpart President  Sahle-Work Zewde  and Ahmed in Addis Ababa on Tuesday morning.
 The trip is the first presidential visit between Finland and Ethiopia.
 In addition to bilateral relations between Finland and Ethiopia, the Presidents discussed topical regional and international issues. Niinistö broached subjects such as Finland’s expertise in IT, education and clean water technologies.
 Niinistö told the Finnish media that in his opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the right person.
 "We discussed the security situation in the region and peace in Eritrea and said that we often have the idea that war is endless. Now they have brought an end to that, which is a great model," Niinistö said.
 The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 was awarded to Prime Minister Ahmed last week for his role in forging a historic peace deal with Eritrea.
 EU role in Africa
 In his talks with the Ahmed, Niinistö also suggested that the EU should be able to pursue a stronger foreign policy in Africa. “The role of the European Union is not what it should be," said Niinistö.
 "China and Turkey are active here, but Africa is close to Europe and we have a lot of common interests. Europe must have some role here," Niinistö added.
 Jutta Urpilainen , t he Finnish nominee to the European Commission  is set to take charge of developing the international partnerships of the European Union. The ex-finance minister had said that developing a new "Africa strategy" would be an important part of her role. Finland currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
 Niinistö lauds Ethiopia's tree planting record
 Niinistö praised Ethiopia for setting a new world record in the summer for planting up to 300 million trees a day.
 "I really liked it. Instead of making statements, it is good to take concrete action. I have tried to talk about it in Finland, that people do not need to hear statements and feel anxious, but should look around to see what can be done," he said.
 Niinistö mentioned reducing food waste and developing the circular economy as concrete actions that Finland could focus on. The President spoke at a conference on climate change in Ethiopia.
 President Niinistö is also expected to visit a local primary school supported by Finland, together with Ethiopia’s Minister of Education  Tilaye Gete.


The Oulu-based  Kaleva reports  an interview with Finland's foreign minister,  Pekka Haavisto , on the situation at the Turkish-Syrian border in which he said that the EU is extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation, the increased number of refugees and growing problems for civilians in northern and north-eastern Syria.
 According to Haavisto, international organizations were prepared to deal with 100,000 internal refugees, but fresh reports from the region have changed the picture. These organizations now believe there will be up to 400,000 people fleeing the fighting.
 "A humanitarian crisis is at hand," Foreign Minister Haavisto said in a phone interview with the Finnish News Agency STT.
 Turkey has partnered with the EU to stem the flow of refugees into Europe, receiving economic aid for the some 4 million displaced persons in the country, 3.6 million of which are from Syria.
 According to the Haavisto, these refugees are focused on returning to their homes, not to Europe or the border zone Turkey is trying to establish.
 "If someone wants to turn them towards Europe, they will have to do a lot of work to do so. These people didn't leave for Europe before, but have been waiting to be able to go back home," stated Foreign Minister Haavisto.
 No to refugee adoption
 Finland's largest circulation daily, Helsingin Sanomat, carries  a front-page feature  about the continuing, but so far unsuccessful efforts of a Finnish couple to legally adopt an adult asylum seeker.
 Erja and Timo Noroviita , a retired couple in the southern coastal city of Loviisa volunteered at a local refugee reception centre near their home, working with asylum seekers who came to Finland in 2015.
 It was there they met  Zirak Bayati , an Iraqi asylum seeker, now 33 years of age, took him under their wing and brought him into their family and thought of him as a son.
 In time, the Noroviitas decided they wanted to legally adopt Zirak. The adoption application was rejected.
 There were two main factors working against the plan. Zirak Bayati is an adult. His application for asylum has been rejected, although the decision is being appealed.
 In rejecting the adoption application, the court said that Bayati is too old for adoption and that his ties with the Noroviita family were not established during childhood.
 The adoption of an adult in Finland is possible only under exceptional circumstances and even then applicable in cases of the children of blended families or foster children who for some reason could not be adopted as minors.
 No separate statistics are kept on the adoption of asylum seekers, but the Finnish Immigration Service told Helsingin Sanomat that it was unable to say if there has been even a single adoption of anyone undergoing processing for possible asylum.
 Zirak Bayati is now in the situation that he has not been granted asylum, but be cannot be deported because Iraq refuses to accept forced repatriations.
 The  number of paperless individuals  has risen in recent years. According to some estimates, there are several thousand in the country, most of them young Iraqis.
 "In practice, Finland has made thousands of people paperless migrants," Erja Noroviita said to the paper. "Instead, there could be another alternative."
 The Noroviitas have appealed the decision against Zirak Bayati's adoption. A second rejection is so likely that their own lawyers declined to take the case.
 President in Africa, on to Japan
 The tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  is among the papers with an item on President  Sauli Niinistö 's first visit to an African nation, starting on Tuesday.
 President Niinistö is on an official visit to Ethiopia on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 During his stay, he is scheduled to meet with leaders there including his Ethiopian counterpart Sahle-Work Zewde, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
 Niinistö will speak at a conference on climate change and be one of the keynote speakers at an event focused on women's economic empowerment.
 Turun Sanomat  reports that President Niinistö and his spouse Jenni Haukio are scheduled to travel to Japan on the 21st of this month to attend the coronation of Emperor Naruhito.
 Those bleeping potholes
 A road sign in the rural reaches of the town of Kangasala, just east of Tampere, has locals chuckling and the authorities fuming,  according to the daily Aamulehti .
 Drivers in the area recently noticed a road sign warning of potholes with an addition explanatory sign attached, in official-looking colours and font, reading "Koko perkeleen tie" - roughly translated, "The whole damn road".
 The paper sent out reporter to check on the sign who confirmed its accuracy.
 Aamulehti says its investigation has been unable to determine if the extra note has been posted by the City of Kangasala, the local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, the road maintenance board, or a disgruntled local.
 One thing, it says is for sure though - the strong language has enhanced the effectiveness of the warning.
 Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment intends to remove the extra information from the sign and is considering filing a criminal complaint.


Finland anticipates that US withdrawal from northern Syria will strengthen the Syrian government and its Russian backers in the region.
 "An agreement with the Kurds will strengthen  Bashar al-Assad 's regime in Syria. It can make a deal with the Kurds, take over the border area and take control of the whole country," Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  told Yle on Tuesday morning.
 "In this way, Russia, which has backed the al-Assad regime, will become a stronger actor," said Haavisto.
 He described US policy in Syria as inconsistent, leading to a weakening of the western position and advancing Russia's.
 "Russia's role in the balance of power will become more important," according to Haavisto.
 Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. Photo Edijs / EPA
 He added that he sees Syrian military support for the Kurds as completely changing the situation for Turkey.
 "The situation is now more difficult for Turkey, being faced by a national opponent. This no longer looks like an operation against terrorism, but rather an attack on another country," Haavisto stated.
 Foreign Minister Haavisto believes that economic sanctions against Turkey will quickly have an impact.
 "Turkey is very dependent on trade with Europe and the United States, as well as income from tourism. Countries at war easily lose income from tourism," he pointed out.
 Turkey is attempting to pressure the EU by threatening to send 3.5 million Syrian refugees to Europe. According to Pekka Haavisto, the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxemburg on Monday did not allow that threat to influence their discussions.
 "For me it came as a positive surprise that Turkey's threats did not sidetrack talks into a discussion on refugees. It was possible to keep the talks focused on the Turkish-Syrian situation and demonstrating solidarity with the Kurds. It was a mature response by the European Union."
 Haavisto refuses to accept Syrian refugees being used as pawns in global politics. He said he believes that their only hope is to return home.
 "Indeed, these people see that they are being exploited for political motives. This is a game that the refugees cannot countenance."


Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  congratulated fresh Nobel peace laureate Prime Minister  Abiy Ahmed  on an official visit to Ethiopia that started on Tuesday — Niinistö's first official trip to Africa.
 Niinistö met his Ethiopian counterpart President  Sahle-Work Zewde  and Abiy in Addis Ababa on Tuesday morning.
 The trip is the first presidential visit between Finland and Ethiopia.
 In addition to bilateral relations between Finland and Ethiopia, the Presidents discussed topical regional and international issues. Niinistö broached subjects such as Finland’s expertise in IT, education and clean water technologies.
 Niinistö told the Finnish media that in his opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the right person.
 "We discussed the security situation in the region and peace in Eritrea and said that we often have the idea that war is endless. Now they have brought an end to that, which is a great model," Niinistö said.
 The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 was awarded to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week for his role in forging a historic peace deal with Eritrea.
 EU role in Africa
 In his talks with the Abiy, Niinistö also suggested that the EU should be able to pursue a stronger foreign policy in Africa. “The role of the European Union is not what it should be," said Niinistö.
 "China and Turkey are active here, but Africa is close to Europe and we have a lot of common interests. Europe must have some role here," Niinistö added.
 Jutta Urpilainen , t he Finnish nominee to the European Commission  is set to take charge of developing the international partnerships of the European Union. The ex-finance minister had said that developing a new "Africa strategy" would be an important part of her role. Finland currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
 Niinistö lauds Ethiopia's tree planting record
 Niinistö praised Ethiopia for setting a new world record in the summer for planting up to 300 million trees a day.
 "I really liked it. Instead of making statements, it is good to take concrete action. I have tried to talk about it in Finland, that people do not need to hear statements and feel anxious, but should look around to see what can be done," he said.
 Niinistö mentioned reducing food waste and developing the circular economy as concrete actions that Finland could focus on. The President spoke at a conference on climate change in Ethiopia.
 President Niinistö is also expected to visit a local primary school supported by Finland, together with Ethiopia’s Minister of Education  Tilaye Gete.


Finland's government is committed to increasing the guarantee fees paid by mining companies to offset the environmental damages mine operations may cause, according to Minister of Economic Affairs  Katri Kulmuni .
 Increasing the payments is part of Mining Act reforms, which Parliament means to take up over the next year.
 A citizens' initiative  calling for the fee hike was discussed in a preliminary debate on the proposed reforms on Wednesday.
 "The shared concerns about mining company guarantees have been recognised by the citizens and the government alike, and they will be addressed," Kulmuni said.
 The deposit sums are intended to mitigate potential environmental damage and to cover the eventual cost of shuttering a mining operation. For instance, the Hitura nickel mine in Northern Ostrobothnia went bankrupt and cost taxpayers more than 16 million euros.
 A June report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development was the first to demonstrate the need for mining guarantee fee increases. In many cases the old deposit sum only covered minimal procedures such as fencing off a closed mining site.
 "That report has a very high standing among environmental and business groups alike. I don't think anyone would oppose this move," Kulmuni said.
 Tax to boost regions
 Kulmuni also said she hopes lawmakers will consider a new  mining tax . Politicians are on board with the plan, as seen in an Yle poll from early 2019 where every respondent from the government parties backed the tax or at least looking into the possibility of one.
 A mining tax could be collected from a company's turnover or the value of unearthed minerals.
 Government intends to reaffirm the position of municipalities and land owners in mining-related issues. Kulmuni said that tax euros should be funneled to mining regions, not to the government.
 "It would be important in terms of social acceptability that the taxman directs those sums to the region where the mining occurs. The municipality rakes in the benefits, but is also responsible for keeping the environment clean."


A student restaurant's decision to  stop serving beef to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions  caused absolute uproar among sections of the Finnish political class this week, and the follow-up stories have been plentiful.
 Centre Party MP  Anne Kalmari   announced  the decision was a travesty perpetrated by the 'veggie mafia', and even falsely claimed that university restaurant Unicafe would 'probably' replace domestic beef with imported food and possibly increase emissions.
 Unicafe had clearly stated that they would replace beef with chicken and pork, and they only serve Finnish chicken and pork.
 HS  reports  that Kalmari's comrade in the agrarian Centre Party, Agriculture Minister  Jari Leppä , also chimed in to say he didn't think the decision was sensible. Antti Kurvinen, who chairs the Centre's parliamentary group, said the menu adjustment was part of a 'culture war', and questioned students' automatic enrolment in the student union that owns Unicafe.
 Iltalehti, meanwhile,  looks  outside the metropolitan centre of climate-conscious youth to ask if other student restaurants are going to follow suit.
 Perhaps not surprisingly they mostly answered that no, they did not want to immediately make a menu change they could expect to be criticised by some of the country's most senior politicians.
 Even so, in Jyväskylä and Oulu they said the proportion of vegetarian meals they sell is rising and they try to source their ingredients responsibly.
 Haavisto in the lead
 Alma Media outlets all carry  a poll  on the 2024 (!) presidential election. The race to succeed  Sauli Niinistö  is some way from getting started, but even so, the Green Party's  Pekka Haavisto  is in the lead.
 He commands the support of some 33 percent of all voters at the moment, a lead of some 22 percentage points on the next candidate,  Olli Rehn  of the Centre Party.
 Iltalehti is keen to stress that his lead is even bigger among young people: he commands some 45 percent of the vote among 18-29-year-olds.
 That is well clear of  Jussi Halla-aho  of the Finns Party in second place, who polled 18 percent among that group.
 With the election not due for another five years, this demographic could provide a clue to the likely direction of the race as older voters pass away and younger ones join the electorate.
 Happy Birthday Kimi!
 The tabloids go to town on Thursday wishing many happy returns to  Kimi Räikkönen , the Finnish Formula 1 legend.
 Iltalehti has  a story  asking if the 40-year-old will be the last veteran driver in formula one, given changes in the sport over the years that have made it much more demanding.
 Ilta-Sanomat, meanwhile,  digs into  the family photo album for a succession of shots of little Kimi before he became World Champion.


Two-thirds of Finnish residents don't know who is currently serving as speaker of parliament, suggests a new poll from Taloustutkimus. Commissioned by the Lännen Media news consortium, the poll found that only 31 percent of the 1,005 survey respondents were able to name Speaker of the Parliament  Matti Vanhanen , despite the importance of the position. The speaker of the parliament formally ranks second in Finland's leadership protocol, after the president.
 The survey found that most respondents were quite familiar with Finland's Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  and current issues in party politics. An exception is Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo , as only one-third of the survey respondents were able to correctly identify her as the Green Party chair. Only 39 percent of respondents who self-identified as Green Party supporters knew that she was the current party leader.
 The margin of error in the poll was three percentage points in either direction.


Finland's Minister of Education  Li Andersson  wants to more closely address bullying in schools. Appearing in an Yle Ykkösaamu interview on Saturday, Andersson said that 29 million euros in additional funding will be devoted to increasing counselling resources in Finnish schools during the current government term.
 "Bullying at school leaves life-long scars and life-long trauma. It should be treated as a violent act, as it is often a matter of both mental and physical violence," she said.
 The 29-million-euro sum will be used to improve the availability of psychologists and counsellors in both primary and secondary schools. Andersson says her ministry is preparing new pupil-to-professional ratios that will be enforced on a nationwide level to ensure that all schoolchildren will have equal services.
 "We've set an ambitious goal to raise our education level, so this means we've also got to make sure that all children feel confident about going to school," the minister said.
 Too much regional variance
 She said that there is currently too much variation in the availability of professional help at Finland's schools.
 "One single school counsellor can have between 700 and 2,000 pupils as clients at present, or be responsible for up to 12 different locations," Andersson said.
 Andersson said that the education ministry plans to introduce the new ratios in Finland's secondary schools already during this parliamentary term.
 "It is linked to the government's goal of extending compulsory education. If we enact a major change that aims to make all young people study until the age of 18, then we have to make sure that student support services are improved," she said.
 United message required
 Andersson hopes that she can entice all of Finland's parliamentary parties to participate in drawing up a national action plan to combat school bullying.
 "I'm inviting all of the parliamentary parties to join this work because this is a matter that transcends party lines. We need a united message from the nation's decision-makers that conveys the seriousness of the situation," she said.
 During the interview, Andersson also discussed a  pilot project  to assess changes in learning outcomes if early childhood education in Finland was extended from one year to two years, and her initiative to do away with sibling supplements to home care allowances in order to encourage better participation in early childhood education opportunities.


Brexit was high on the agenda as incoming European Commission head  Ursula von der Leyen  held talks with Finland's Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  in Helsinki on Thursday.
 Von der Leyen said London must propose a candidate for a seat in the next European Commission if it stays in the EU after October 31. That could further delay the inauguration of her executive, which was supposed to take office just over a week from now.
 It remains unclear just when Britain would leave the EU. Last weekend Prime Minister Boris Johnson reluctantly asked for a three-month extension of the 31 October deadline.
 Although Finland now chairs the European Council, Rinne said he had not yet directly discussed a possible Brexit extension with Council President  Donald Tusk .
 Asked if another EU summit in Brussels will be necessary to decide on the issue, Rinne said he believed a decision could be reached through a written procedure.
 "If the extension means that we can avoid a hard Brexit, it suits me," said Rinne, adding that "a majority or maybe all member states are behind an extension".
 At least three commissioners still missing
 The inauguration of the new Commission, which was to take place on 1 November, will also likely be delayed.
 It is now expected to begin its five-year term a month later. The executive is still missing commissioners from France, Hungary, Romania – and possibly the UK.
 While the final line-up is not yet certain, von der Leyen said "it is already clear that this Commission will include the largest proportion of women ever".
 Another piece appeared to fall into place earlier on Thursday as President  Emmanuel Macron  named a new French candidate for a major Commission portfolio covering industrial policy, defence spending, high-tech and space.
 Macron proposed former economy minister  Thierry Breton  to replace previous French candidate  Sylvie Goulard , who was rejected by the European Parliament. In a statement, Macron indicated that von der Leyen had already approved Breton as the new candidate.
 With the long-term European budget framework looming as the Commission's biggest challenge besides Brexit, von der Leyen said that "the European Green Deal is priority number one, along with digitalisation".
 She said the Commission will work to advance green financing and other measures to show that "climate-neutral production is possible in a fair way".
 Climate talks in Sweden next week
 The climate crisis will also top the agenda in Stockholm next week. Additionally on Thursday, the government announced that Rinne will lead a ministerial delegation to the Nordic Council meeting that begins there on Tuesday.
 Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  and four other cabinet ministers will accompany the PM for two days of talks in the Swedish capital, where the main theme will be efforts to slow climate change.
 Meanwhile Rinne also announced that the five government parties will convene for a conference on the same theme in January.
 The centre-left government has placed the climate as a key priority for both its legislative term and for Finland's six-month presidency of the European Council, which wraps up in just over two months from now – but environmental groups say there has so far been little concrete progress on either agenda.


Brexit was high on the agenda as incoming European Commission head  Ursula von der Leyen  held talks with Finland's Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  in Helsinki on Thursday.
 Von der Leyen said London must propose a candidate for a seat in the next European Commission if it stays in the EU after October 31. That could further delay the inauguration of her executive, which was supposed to take office just over a week from now.
 It remains unclear just when Britain would leave the EU. Last weekend Prime Minister Boris Johnson reluctantly asked for a three-month extension of the 31 October deadline.
 Although Finland now chairs the European Council, Rinne said he had not yet directly discussed a possible Brexit extension with Council President  Donald Tusk .
 Asked if another EU summit in Brussels will be necessary to decide on the issue, Rinne said he believed a decision could be reached through a written procedure.
 "If the extension means that we can avoid a hard Brexit, it suits me," said Rinne, adding that "a majority or maybe all member states are behind an extension".
 At least three commissioners still missing
 The inauguration of the new Commission, which was to take place on 1 November, will also likely be delayed.
 It is now expected to begin its five-year term a month later. The executive is still missing commissioners from France, Hungary, Romania – and possibly the UK.
 While the final line-up is not yet certain, von der Leyen said "it is already clear that this Commission will include the largest proportion of women ever".
 Another piece appeared to fall into place earlier on Thursday as President  Emmanuel Macron  named a new French candidate for a major Commission portfolio covering industrial policy, defence spending, high-tech and space.
 Macron proposed former economy minister  Thierry Breton  to replace previous French candidate  Sylvie Goulard , who was rejected by the European Parliament. In a statement, Macron indicated that von der Leyen had already approved Breton as the new candidate.
 With the long-term European budget framework looming as the Commission's biggest challenge besides Brexit, von der Leyen said that "the European Green Deal is priority number one, along with digitalisation".
 She said the Commission will work to advance green financing and other measures to show that "climate-neutral production is possible in a fair way".
 Climate talks in Sweden next week
 The climate crisis will also top the agenda in Stockholm next week. Additionally on Thursday, the government announced that Rinne will lead a ministerial delegation to the Nordic Council meeting that begins there on Tuesday.
 Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  and four other cabinet ministers will accompany the PM for two days of talks in the Swedish capital, where the main theme will be efforts to slow climate change.
 Meanwhile Rinne also announced that the five government parties will convene for a conference on the same theme in January.
 The centre-left government has placed the climate as a key priority for both its legislative term and for Finland's six-month presidency of the European Council, which wraps up in just over two months from now – but environmental groups say there has so far been little concrete progress on either agenda.
 11:20 Corrected spelling of name in headline


Prime Minister  Antti Rinne’s  sartorial habits, health, policy opinions and backroom manoeuvres are all in the news this week after a new authorised biography was published.
 The book is by journalists  Lauri Nurmi  and  Matti Mörttinen  and covers  Rinne’s journey  to lead the government from childhood to the present day.
 One  story to emerge  is that Rinne is positive about allowing Muslim congregations the same right to tax their members as Finland’s established religious denominations, as they have raised the issue in discussions with him.
 "It shows that they want to integrate into society by themselves gathering resources to fund their operations," said Rinne in the book, adding that such a model could also prevent foreign funding of Islamic communities in Finland.
 Helsingin Sanomat  reports  that the book also notes that while he was recovering from pneumonia and a heart attack earlier this year, Rinne asked an advisor if he might attend election debates in a wheelchair as former US President Woodrow Wilson did.
 "Antti, you are not Wilson," he was told, and given a deadline to recover or the party would need to choose a successor to fight  April’s election .
 That ultimatum gave him additional motivation to recover, according to the book, and he was better in time to fight and  win the election .
 Ilta-Sanomat also has  a story  on his habit of buying his suits from fairly downmarket outlets near his home in the Päijät-Häme region, right up until he was Prime Minister and got marched to a swankier Helsinki outlet to purchase five near-identical blue suits and one black one.
 "When I have clothes I like, I keep them so long they wear out," said Rinne.
 Nokia shares tumble
 It was a  bad day for Nokia on Thursday , as they announced their third quarter results and said that they would not be paying a dividend this - or next - quarter.
 The company’s share price tumbled on the Helsinki stock exchange, and that prompted Taloussanomat to  wonder  how much money individual, well-known shareholders had lost on what the paper termed 'Black Thursday'.
 Nokia is of course a very popular share in Finland that enriched large numbers of people in the 1990s, so the paper’s list of MPs and celebrities is pretty long.
 Some suggest that the price has fallen so it might be time for (other people) to buy the stock, but it remains to be seen if that will happen.
 Business daily Kauppalehti took a  different tack , wondering just how the company could have done so badly. The paper suggests that somebody might be willing to supply 5g networks at any price, undercutting Nokia and Swedish rival Ericsson.
 That only leaves one company in the same market who might be the lower-cost provider: Chinese state-owned Huawei.
 How dull is Helsinki?
 Ilta-Sanomat  picks up a story  from Russian outlet Ria Novosti detailing the results of a poll of Russian tourists.
 The somewhat surprising result? Helsinki is the dullest town in Europe, according to 30 percent of respondents.
 The biggest problems for the Finnish capital were the weather and the lack of sights to see, according to the pollsters.
 In second spot was Bratislava, and the third snoozefest vacation spot was the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary.
 IS notes that the provocative results did draw a reaction on social media from Saint Petersburg residents, who share a very similar climate at least with Helsinki.
 “It’s not boring, just peaceful,” said one quoted in IS.


A citizens' initiative calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis use is headed to parliament for consideration by MPs.
 The initiative received the required 50,000 signatures on Thursday evening, which means the document can now be handed to Finnish MPs for consideration.
 The initiative calls for the decriminalisation of possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis.
 Most of the support came in the final days of the initiative, which was started at the beginning of May. At the beginning of October the initiative had less than half of the needed signatures, but support surged over the past week in the run-up to the initiative's deadline, 1 November.
 The main sponsor of the initiative, activist  Janne Karvinen , said he was not surprised about the last-minute boost in support.
 "People usually leave things to the last minute. We've been promoting this recently and getting our message out on social media. There's certainly more than 50,000 - or even more than 100,000 - people in Finland who support this issue," Karvinen told Yle on Wednesday evening as the initiative still only had garnered around 41,000 signatures.
 Karvinen said decriminalising cannabis is warranted because prohibition of the drug hasn't worked.
 "Primarily, punishing [the use of cannabis] does more harm than good. It promotes social exclusion and [convictions for cannabis possession] can hinder a person's access to jobs or study spots," he explained.
 Changing attitudes
 Oulu-based newspaper Kaleva  reported  in July that people convicted of minor drug offences are barred from the ability to study or work across more than 60 sectors. According to the paper, the chief physician of substance abuse centre A-Clinic as well as a research professor from the National Institute for Health and Welfare both suggested that the country should decriminalise drug use.
 Earlier this month Finland’s Supreme Court ruled that motorists will likely  not be charged  for driving under the influence days after using cannabis.
 Karvinen said he thinks it is possible that Finnish Parliament would pass the measures called for in the citizens' initiative.
 "I believe that MPs do not want to oppose the benefits [decriminalisation] would bring," he said, noting that Prime Minister's government programme also mentioned substance abuse policy reforms.
 Several European countries have already decriminalised cannabis use and it is legal in many states in the US. On Thursday, one of the Democratic front-runners in the US Presidential race, Senator Bernie Sanders, unveiled his own plans to legalise cannabis nationwide, calling for an end to the "destructive war on drugs."
 Canada legalised the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis last year
 However a Finnish researcher on drug policy from the University of Lapland, Mika Luoma-aho, said he thinks Finnish lawmakers will reject the initiative.
 "I don't think Parliament is ready to accept it. But it will force a debate on the issue. I want to hear the discussion that quashes the initiative and then continue the dialogue on that basis," Luoma-aho said.


Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  says that the Turkish offensive in northeast Syria has not significantly affected the al-Hol detention camp, where those being held include  Finnish women and their children . They are believed to be family members of so-called Islamic State (Isis) combatants.
 "Conditions at the camp are stable at the moment. But it cannot be a permanent state of affairs that there are underage children at the camp," Haavisto said on the Yle current affairs programme Ykkösaamu on Saturday.
 The foreign minister stressed that Finland and the EU are working on a daily basis to resolve the situation of their citizens at the camp.
 "We don't have armed force or any other power to get these people out of there. If people come out of there, they must be able to do so safely. There are neighbouring countries that consider at least the adults to be criminals as they have acted within Isis," he said.
 Haavisto added that the Kurdish administration in Syria has been informed that the Finnish citizens in the camp have a right to return to their homeland.
 2024 presidential bid? No comment
 Turning to domestic politics at the end of the interview, Haavisto was asked about the 2024 presidential election. He replied that it was too early to comment on that.
 According to a recent survey published by Alma Media, Haavisto, 61, is so far the overwhelming front-runner to succeed President  Sauli Niinistö , whose second and final term ends on 1 March 2024.
 In the poll, former Greens chair and UN official Haavisto garnered 33 percent support. The second-most popular candidate at this early stage was Centre Party veteran and former European Commissioner  Olli Rehn  with 11 percent support. Rehn, 57, took over as Governor of the Bank of Finland last year.
 In the first and only round of this past spring's presidential election, Haavisto came in a distant second to Niinistö, picking up 12.4 percent compared to 62.7 percent for the incumbent.
 In their previous match-up during the 2012 election, Niinistö defeated Haavisto in the second round by a margin of roughly 63 to 37 percent.


The government's ambitious climate targets can be achieved without negatively impacting people's everyday lives, says Prime Minister  Antti Rinne .
 This is despite the fact that all possible measures must be sought to fend off global warming, he told Yle on Sunday. Rinne did not directly rule out rationing purchases of petrol and diesel, as  proposed by a panel of economic researchers  last week.
 "Personally, I don't eliminate any alternative before it has been studied and considered whether it would be a good way to move things forward," Rinne said during the traditional 'Prime Minister's Interview Hour' programme on Yle's Radio Suomi on Sunday.
 "Let's make vegetables a bit cheaper"
 One such measure, he said, could be more "climate-friendly" food, as suggested in the government programme adopted in early June. Rinne said that taxes could be lowered on vegetables, but not on meat.
 "I should have said this directly last spring, but I'm saying it now, in other words let's make vegetables a bit cheaper through taxation and leave meat as it is. That's how we'll guide [consumption]," Rinne said.
 Rinne's centre-left cabinet, which took office nearly five months ago, has ambitious goals when it comes to countering climate change, but it has been criticised for a lack of concrete means to attain them.
 Carbon-neutral by 2035
 The PM says that Finland will reach carbon-neutrality by 2035 by cutting emissions from transport and energy production. As he sees it, there is no need to intervene in process industry, or to make major changes in agriculture.
 "They can be realised through the kind of policy where regular people's day-to-day lives certainly change, but not for the worse," Rinne said.
 As decisions are made, corrective decisions can also be made that eliminate social inequalities, he said.
 The premier told reporters that he wants to calm the debate over measures aimed at combating climate change, and that he is confident that the government's goals will be reached.
 "This discussion is now going a bit overboard here and there, spurring fears and uncertainty among regular citizens that their own lives will now immediately be destroyed by measures against climate change," Rinne suggested.
 "In this debate, I'd warn various actors that we don't need to do the kinds of things that would significantly undermine or worsen regular people's daily lives."


Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  went on national broadcaster  Yle's traditional 'Question Time'  programme on Sunday and spoke on a variety of issues; local daily  Turun Sanomat highlighted a few key topics , among which was Rinne's cautious view on the repercussions of the recent death of  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , leader of terrorist group Isis.
 "The fight against Isis troops is still not over. If these dramatic events are true, the death of the leader effectively raises the risk of retaliatory terrorist strikes," TS quoted Rinne as saying.
 US President  Donald Trump  announced on Sunday that American troops cornered al-Baghdadi in Idlib, Syria where the terrorist leader committed suicide by detonating an explosive, also killing three of his children.
 TS wrote that Rinne saw little chance of the European Union reacting quickly to the developments in Syria due to the EU's principle of unanimity. He said that Finland's view has long been that issues of foreign policy should be decided by majority vote in the EU for faster responses to crises.
 Rinne also touched on other phenomena, such as abolishing daylight savings time in Finland in favour of a permanent 'summer time'. The European Parliament  has already approved a bill  that would put an end to moving the hour hands twice a year in all EU states by 2021. EU governments still have to agree on the proposal.
 "We would have more sunlight in the evenings. The 2021 deadline seems unfeasible," said Rinne.
 Off the clock, on the phone
 The  breakneck pace of working life  and the  stress it can bring  are always hot topics, and one reason is that social media and other modes of online communication may blur the distinction between labour and leisure.
 Daily  Helsingin Sanomat runs a piece  reporting that employee organisations and health professionals alike are worried about the effect of workplace group chats on instant messaging platforms such as Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger taking up precious free time.
 Service workers' union Pam  featured an article  in its members' magazine a week ago that urged employees and employers to seek common rules when it comes to allowing their work to follow them home.
 The health risks of after-hours message floods are also of concern to the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy). Negotiation manager  Riikka Rapinoja  said in HS the union's stance is clear: work should stay at work, and no one should be expected to constantly follow Whatsapp notifications after they've clocked out.
 "Employees contract out their working time to their employers, for which they are paid a salary. This is the deal," Rapinoja said.
 HS wrote that the pressure to stay in group chats can be high even if it isn't an official responsibility. Psychology professor  Ulla Kinnunen  said she does not endorse strict lines between work and leisure time, as working life expands and changes.
 "It goes two ways. Employees might be more inclined than before to sort out personal errands while on the job, as well as work after they've gone home, although spillage in this direction is much rarer."
 Second Nurmijärvi school burns
 The Southern Finnish municipality of Nurmijärvi was shocked early on Monday morning when a local school caught fire. Most Finnish papers,  including Ilta-Sanomat , carried the story of the blaze that firefighters said would take most of Monday to quell.
 Fire chief  Yrjö Jalava  said the Valkjärvi school building would be completely destroyed. The fire department was able to salvage some personal property before the fire expanded out of control. The school used to teach grades 1—6, IS wrote.
 The fire was the second to shock Nurmijärvi in a short period, after the Lepsämä school burned down on Saturday a week before. Police are investigating the Lepsämä fire as arson, while the cause of the Valkjärvi fire is still unknown.


Knowledge and discussion are the themes for this year’s annual Independence Day Gala, the office of President  Sauli Niinistö  announced on Wednesday.
 "Finland’s strength has always been the ability to work together, making room for different opinions and using knowledge in diverse ways," Niinistö was quoted as saying in a statement.
 The president’s office said that technological development has changed people’s relationship with information, which is now more accessible and the threshold for engaging in debate is lower. On the other hands, the tone of national debate has hardened, the statement noted.
 "Everyone can help create a considerate discussion culture, promote confidence in scientific knowledge and expertise and, most importantly, respect truth. This builds trust," the president added.
 The president’s office has already begun sending out invitations to this year’s formal reception. Niinistö and his wife  Jenni Haukio  have invited a total of 1,700 guests. According to tradition, guests will include war veterans and Finland’s wartime medical volunteers, known as Lottas.
 Last year the theme of the gala was  the environment . The event is broadcast live from the Presidential Palace and is  one of the most-watched television programmes  of the year.


More than 52,000 people have signed a  citizens' initiative calling for an aviation tax , surpassing the 50,000 certified signatures needed to send it to MPs for consideration.
 Any Finnish citizens aged 18 or over can sign or start such an initiative, which lapses if sufficient signatures are not collected within six months.
 The flight tax initiative was launched on 2 May, so would have lapsed on Saturday. As of early October, the initiative had only collected around 7,000 names. By Wednesday, that was up to 25,000. As Thursday began, that had risen to just over 33,000. In its final spurt on Thursday, it gathered more than 17,000 signatories to break the 50,000 barrier around 11pm. Signatures can be collected either in paper form or via a secured online system.
 Revenues would be earmarked for environment
 According to the initiative, an eco-tax or fee would be tacked on to all flight tickets. The revenues "should be earmarked so as to most effectively guide environmental policy" toward cutting emissions. As virtually all other forms of transport are now taxed, proponents argue that this amounts to a tax break or indirect subsidy for airlines.
 The initiative calls for the fee to variable and based on "the climate impact of various types of flights". It does not propose any specific tax rate but points out that the flight fee in neighbouring Sweden ranges between six and 40 euros per passenger.
 Sweden adopted an aviation tax last year, which was followed by a decline in flight passengers and rapid growth in train ridership.
 Austria, Britain, France, Germany and Norway also levy some form of aviation tax. Supporters hope that the growing number of national fees will lead to an EU-wide scheme. If no EU deal is found, the Netherlands plans to introduce a 7.50 euro ticket tax for departing passengers from 2021.
 Support among government parties
 Last December, the Finnish News Agency STT surveyed views on an eco-tax among the main parties in the Finnish Parliament.
 The strongest support was among MPs from the Left Alliance and the Greens, which both joined the new government in June. Taking the dimmest view were those from the opposition Finns Party and the Centre, which carried over from the past government into the current one. At the time, Centre MPs called for an international rather than national agreement.
 An Yle survey of European Parliament candidates last spring showed similar results, with the Greens and Left most supportive and the Finns Party the least enthusiastic.


Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  wants to shorten the length of the presidential term of office in Finland, reports the regional newspaper Savon Sanomat.
 Niinistö said in an interview with the paper that the term should be shortened, as the current six-year term is exceptionally long.
 Finnish law currently limits a president's total time in office to two terms, or 12 years in total.
 The president says that a four or five-year term would be a better model, with three four-years terms possible if the current 12-year limit continues, or two five-year terms if the limit would be reduced to 10 years total.
 He said the problem is not that the government changes every four years in the middle of the presidential term, as Niinistö said that the longer presidential term also brings continuity, but rather the sticking point is the nature of the work, as it is very demanding and requires a high level of commitment.
 "In opposition to general opinion, it is very time intensive job," Niinistö said.


The administration led by former union boss  Antti Rinne  has completed 150-odd days in government and has had little time to begin making good on the pledges in  its government programme .
 Rinne leads a disparate coalition spanning the political spectrum, and some tensions have been on show in recent weeks. Is it possible to balance the Centre Party’s rural base with the Greens’ urban, environmentalist focus? Can the Left Alliance and the economically liberal Swedish People’s Party agree on economic policy?
 The setup is certainly different to the unified approach of the Sipilä government, and that shows in some of the compromises made in Rinne’s first months in office, even as the governing parties promise big moves on several fronts.
 Voters may still be waiting to see how the new administration fulfills those promises given that it’s still early days, says Yle political journalist  Helmiina Suhonen . At the same time, she says that the Rinne government’s climate actions don’t match the lofty goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.
 "Even in 150 days there should be more to give than assurances of making a roadmap for your goals. People may not be pleased because the goals are so grandiose," Suhonen says.
 Easing work-based immigration
 The government has also pledged to raise the employment rate to 75 percent by 2023, but analysts are sceptical about whether that can be achieved without more significant policy initiatives.
 "What we see so far is really not in line with the target of creating 60,000 jobs, that’s hard for regular citizens to believe," she added.
 The government has been under pressure to address lengthy waits in visa processing for highly-skilled foreign workers.
 In response the government has pledged to transfer the administration of work-based immigration to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, splitting it off from the Finnish Immigration Service and thereby potentially speeding up approvals.
 According to Suhonen, this is an area that could provide the administration with "an easy win".
 "It is one of the easiest things to do at this point and it is something concrete they can attempt. Other things like attracting people to come to Finland are more complex and involve many different players," she adds.
 Good reviews on govt cooperation
 Even so, the list of reforms Rinne administration intends to undertake in this area  is long and ambitious .
 Suhonen says the government may be hampered by the fact that the five-party coalition does not always appear to be on the same page on some issues. The Greens and the Centre Party are especially antagonistic, having clashed over environmental issues  as well as internal security.
 In spite of their differences, Suhonen says the cooperation has gone "surprisingly well" and she notes that there may be no other option than for them to "just get along".
 "Smaller parties like the Greens or Left Alliance have no other choice if they want to be in government. The Centre may have some options, though," she continues.
 Rinne not afraid of conflict
 Prime Minister Antti Rinne took over the reins of government on the cusp of Finland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Suhonen offers a mixed review of his tenure since then, noting that Rinne has shown himself to be adept at managing conflict within a group, she adds.
 "He is used to it and he’s not afraid of conflict. He is using this "iltakoulu" approach, something that [ Juha ]  Sipilä  didn’t really do during his term,” she says, referring to the tradition of informal after-hours discussion groups advocated by President  Sauli Niinistö  in 2011 that dates back to the 1930s.
 Otherwise, Suhonen identifies a tendency to mixed messaging as one of Rinne’s weaknesses.
 "He has lots of ideas and may not always share them with his teammates. It is not always clear what the message is and that may be a handicap."
 This week  the All Points North podcast  reviews the government's first 150-odd days in office. Would you give it a passing grade or not? What has it got right and where has it missed the mark? We'll discuss these and other questions with Helmiina Suhonen and Robert Sundman, presenters of the Yle political podcast Yes, no, abstain, absent (Jaa, ei, tyhjiä, poissa) or JETP. You can send comments or questions via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our  Facebook  or  Twitter  accounts, or to yle.news@yle.fi.


Finland’s populist, anti-immigration party looks to have increased its support substantially in the first months of the SDP-led government.
 Yle’s latest poll suggests the Finns Party has a six-point lead over the National Coalition, its nearest challenger.
 The Social Democrats, who topped the poll  in April’s parliamentary election  and clinched the Prime Minister spot, are nine percentage points behind on 13.9 percent support.
 The party’s numbers are down 1.7 percentage points compared to Yle’s last monthly poll in October.
 PM  Antti Rinne  has only recorded lower poll ratings in July 2014, just after he took over as party chair. The Green Party is in third spot, making it the most popular government party in this poll.
 The Finns Party’s new support appears to be coming from SDP voters, according to pollsters Taloustutkimus.
 The party has clear policy differences on climate change, opposing new taxes on fuels and loudly supporting the right of Finns to eat meat in the face of efforts to reduce agricultural impact on the climate.
 Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  also frequently talks about immigration and migrants. This week he sparked a social media storm by taking on an SDP councillor and taxi driver of Somali origin who claimed to have refused a fare when his passenger racially abused him.
 Halla-aho suggested the councillor,  Abdirahim 'Husu' Hussein , had broken traffic laws by stopping on the highway.
 Taloustutkimus interviewed 3,414 people between 2 October and 5 November, and 2,397 people gave their party allegiance. The poll’s margin of error is +-1.4 percentage points.


Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's Social Democratic Party may be feeling the effects of a global trend in which voters are deserting traditional socialist and conservative parties in favour of smaller and newer green or nationalist political bodies. That's according to political journalist  Robert Sundman , who commented on  Yle's latest voter approval poll  showing the SDP in fourth place, well behind the opposition Finns Party, which has steadily been firing up voter enthusiasm.
 Helmiina Suhonen , Sundman's co-host on the Yle political podcast  Yes, no, abstain, absent  ( Jaa, ei, tyhjiä, poissa ) pointed out that  Jussi Halla-aho 's Finns Party doesn't have to do much to win favour while in opposition. Sundman noted that the nationalist party may even be acting as a protest channel for SDP voters who are dissatisfied with the current government.
 Suhonen noted that while the new  administration has been slow in setting out a clear roadmap  for achieving ambitious employment and climate action goals, it has held together well and there have been no major crises.
 She gave the government a respectable grade of seven out of a possible 10 for its performance so far. Citing little to go on, Sundman sat out the vote and abstained.
 Join the conversation
 If you have any questions or comments or would like to participate in the discussion, just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via iTunes (and leave a review!), listen on Spotify and Yle Areena or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our RSS feed.
 This week's show was presented by  Denise Wall  and our producer was  Priya Ramachandran D'souza . Our sound designer was  Laura Koso .


Minister for Social Affairs and Health  Aino-Kaisa Pekonen  has said that cannabis use should not be punished.
 “'I support decriminalising cannabis use," Pekonen told Yle.
 The minister said those who need marijuana for medical purposes will have better access to treatment if they do not face criminal penalties.
 "If such use didn't lead to convictions, it would help people in seeking treatment," Pekonen said.
 A citizens' initiative calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis  recently made its way to parliament for consideration by MPs. The initiative calls for decriminalisation of possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis.
 Pekonen, however, added that her views are not the Left Alliance’s official position on the citizens' initiative.
 "This is my personal view on the matter."
 Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  also said she was in favour of the citizens' initiative in a Facebook post last week.
 According to daily Helsingin Sanomat, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  stated in Parliament on Thursday that the government was "not moving ahead" in eliminating punishments for cannabis use.
 Police oppose decriminalisation
 National Police Commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen , meanwhile, takes a stricter line on cannabis. He said drug use should not be decriminalised in an MTV News interview last week.
 "Police see death, violence, abuse, prostitution, family suffering and crime in general in the world of drugs. It is terribly difficult to accept any form of legalisation of drugs,” Kolehmainen said in the television interview.
 Minister of Justice  Anna-Maja Henriksson  also  had a dim view of the citizens' initiative.  “I do not believe that it is most important to decriminalise the use of cannabis, but rather to [seek] a more effective substance abuse policy," Henriksson told Yle recently.