Summary: From peeping frogs to multicultural dance, the Helsinki Festival offers three tantalising audiovisual gateways to the city.

The 30th annual Night of the Arts brought hundreds of events to the capital region on Thursday evening, stretching into early Friday and ushering in the Helsinki Festival.
 The massive  multi-genre festival  runs through September 1, serving up rock, hip-hop and world music at the Huvila Festival Tent, along with classical music, dance, discussion panels and a photo exhibition featuring clowns. There are even Laurel and Hardy films with live musical accompaniment among other kiddie-oriented events, many of them free of charge.
 Sound and vision
 Among the offerings are audiovisual installations that run through the 17-day festival at entry points to the capital region: the Port of Helsinki's West Terminal, the Central Railway Station and Helsinki Airport in Vantaa.
 "The idea was let's put extremely high quality ambient sound and light works in those places where people arrive in Helsinki, so that maybe someone may stop for a moment; maybe their commute will be just a bit different and a bit better. Art can be a moment of stopping, of reflecting for a moment," suggests Helsinki Festival Artistic Director  Marko Ahtisaari .
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 Marko Ahtisaari Joi Ito
 Each of the "Enter Helsinki" installations has been developed by a pair including a visual artist and a musician.
 Singing bowl, ever-changing light
 The only non-Finn among them is  Jon Hopkins , now on his fourth visit to Helsinki. The Grammy-nominated British electronic musician and producer is known for collaborations with the likes of Coldplay and  Brian Eno .
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 Jon Hopkins Eoin Carey
 Eno has created works of generative ambient music for spaces such as airports and Helsinki's Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. Now Hopkins too has produced a similar generative work that subtly fills the platform area of the central train station.
 His Finnish partner in the project,  Ville Hyvönen , designed an ever-changing light show that reacts to the music as well as the arrival and departure of trains and the changes in natural light during the day.
 As with the other installations, the visual aspect comes into its own after sunset, shortly after 9 pm. The station is also quieter then, making the discreet music more audible.
 "I hope people will go along after dark to experience this installation at its purest," says Hopkins. "I've long been fascinated with the conscious and subconscious effects that the inclusion of ambient music in public places can have. I can sense a calmness that isn't usually present in these often hectic spaces."
 Like natural light, the generative work constantly, gradually changes without ever repeating itself exactly. While it was created specifically for Helsinki, its origins lie further east.
 "All the sounds were created using an antique Tibetan singing bowl that my stepmom found for me in Delhi. You can create a variety of sounds with it including this very beautiful, hypnotic drone sound, which is obviously part of a prayer ritual. I built a soundscape out of these on a laptop, layering and processing this one instrument to create a constantly shifting wave of resonating harmonics," Hopkins says.
 "This is the first time I've created music solely from a single sound source, which was really liberating in a way. It's also the first piece I've written that doesn't use a traditional harmonic scale. All the harmonics you hear are generated by this metal bowl, so it has a drone base but it's not in a key actually," says Hopkins.
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 Memory Flowers, Brian Eno, 1999 Pirje Mykkänen / Kansallisgalleria
 A few blocks away, the Eno theme continues at Kiasma, which is displaying  Memory Flowers , an audiovisual sculpture that the artist created in conjunction with his  Kite Stories  installation there 20 years ago.
 Peeping frogs, disoriented whales
 More ambient sounds set the mood at the West Harbour's Terminal T2, where local musician  Timo Kaukolampi  has teamed up with visual designer  Jenni Pystynen  to transform a large, airy upper hall overlooking the sea with a work entitled  Silent Sea .
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 Timo Kaukolampi and Jenni Pystynen teamed up for a marine-themed installation at the West Harbour. Wif Stenger / Yle
 Like Hopkins, Kaukolampi has created electronic works and soundtracks as well as abrasive rock with his band K-X-P, inspired by 1970s German  krautrock  groups.
 This audio work is more soothing, featuring ghostly choral voices and peeping frogs that Kaukolampi recorded in Portugal – again echoing Eno, who featured Honduran frogs on his classic  On Land .
 As Ahtisaari sees it, such restful sounds are appropriate for these installations in travel hubs.
 "When we commissioned these pieces, the brief was that since these are in public spaces, the works should not scare anyone or arouse a sense of emergency. That's pretty much all we said," he explains.
 "My most sincere wish was that people would be touched by something otherworldly and positive rather than just noise," Kaukolampi says.
 In front of a massive picture window, Pystynen's visual component is also meditative: dangling strands of paisley-shaped plastic that turn and reflect light in curious ways.
 Beyond its seemingly placid surface, this ocean-themed work carries a darker environmental theme, responding to issues such as plastic in the seas and the impact of noise pollution on whales and other marine life.
 "We were thinking about the ocean before it had any man-made sounds, the silence before motors, and a quote about whales dying because they can't hear their singing anymore. We don't really know that much about anything and we're already polluting it with our plastic and noise and our hurry," says Kaukolampi.
 Music for airports
 The third piece is 'Enter Me', a video installation by photographer and journalist  Meeri Koutaniemi  with music by her husband  Sami Yaffa . A veteran of bands such as Hanoi Rocks and the New York Dolls, he has done a popular documentary series for Yle about music from around the world.
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 Sami Yaffa and Meeri Koutaniemi designed the 'Enter Me' installation. Atte Kajova / AOP
 Reflecting that, his soundtrack is much livelier and more varied than the other two – or than Eno's  Ambient 1: Music for Airports . Set to the music are looping videos of leaping dancers, projected on the walls of a tunnel linking the airport to its underground train station.
 "The piece deals with how to navigate yourself as an autonomous and anonymous being and how you reflect yourself in others' feelings," explains Koutaniemi.
 Noting that the busy corridor is a challenging venue, she says that "as an artist you'd like to have a space where you would get the most attention for the work. So actually this space is perfect in a way because the piece talks about how you meet another anonymous person. In this space you're in a hurry and you're anonymous, but if you pay attention you can have that moment to see each other and interact."
 What kind of first impression, then, do the creators hope the installation conveys to new arrivals?
 "That you'd be open to new encounters; that you can ask for attention and face another person in a friendly way if you have that courage – because we're so used to these rules that you're not allowed to say anything or touch another human being. We want to break these barriers and conventions," she says.
 "This is a multi-layered piece using styles from all over the world so we hope that when people come here from all over the world they can recognise some rhythms and realities from their own cultures, and feel welcome."

Stop, look and listen: Audio sculptures greet – and provoke –
visitors to Helsinki


Summary: Posti issued an apology for the incident, and requested that the public return any unopened mail found at the location.

Finland's national mail carrier Posti announced on Friday that a large amount of letters and other mail spilled from a delivery truck onto the road between the cities of Kuopio and Suonenjoki in Central Finland. The accident occurred on Highway 9 between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
 According to the statement from Posti, the spillage was caused by the failure of the delivery truck's door locking mechanism. Posti estimated that thousands of items of mail were spread across the area around where the incident occurred.
 The company said that it regrets any inconvenience or possible damage caused to customers.
 Markku Rajamäki , Director of Risk Management and Security at Posti, told Yle that the company attempted to collect all the spilled mail immediately after the incident was first reported.
 "We collected them that night and even got help from the police. Yesterday we went through the route twice in the daylight, and no more letters were found," Rajamäki said.
 However, it is possible that some items of mail are still at the site, and Rajamäki therefore asks people to return any items that may be found in the area to Posti. If a piece of mail is found, the finder can drop it into the nearest letter box or take it to the nearest service point from where it will be routed to the correct recipient.
 Spilled mail was sent from Eastern Finland
 According to Rajamäki, the letters that spilled from the lorry had been sent this week from Eastern Finland, and were intended for destinations in the direction of Oulu and Ostrobothnia in the west, and Pirkanmaa and Satakunta in the southwest.
 "If you are awaiting mail from Eastern Finland that does not arrive by the expected date of delivery, please contact customer service. Likewise, if you have sent mail from Eastern Finland in either of those two directions on that day and the recipient does not acknowledge receipt, please contact customer service," Rajamäki said.
 Although these incidents are rare for Posti, they are not unheard of. Rajamäki did not however want to estimate how many similar cases have occurred in mail delivery over the past year.
 "We carry so many different types of shipments that sometimes there is damage. However, these are isolated cases," Rajamäki said.

Mail spills from truck onto motorway, some lost or damaged


Summary: Sweden should crack down on exports of smokeless tobacco, says a leading public health expert.

Youth in Finland still drink and smoke significantly less than in the early 2000s, but now this positive trend seems to have come to a halt, according to the biannual Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey.
 Fewer youngsters are complete teetotallers, and the use of  snus  - a powdered smokeless tobacco - is increasing, especially among girls. That is in comparison to the previous poll carried out in 2017.
 One in 10 boys aged 14-18 said they use tobacco products on a daily basis, along with eight percent of girls of the same age. The share of boys was the same as two years earlier, but the girls' share rose slightly, which explains an overall rise in the use of snus.
 The share of girls who use snus occasionally or regularly edged up from three percent to nearly five percent. Boys' use slipped slightly to 11.5 percent.
 About one third of teens aged 14-18 drink alcohol at least once a month, with the figures about the same for both sexes.
 However the proportion who say they do not drink at all declined to 43 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls, down from 45 and 43 percent respectively two years ago.
 Professor criticizes Swedish officials
 Arja Rimpelä , a professor of public health at the University of Tampere who worked on the study, says she is concerned by the apparent slowdown.
 "At worst, this could be a turning point in the long-term development," she says.
 She is particularly worried about the use of snus, and its rising popularity among girls.
 Rimpelä points out that the product contains nicotine, so it is highly addictive. And although sales are illegal in Finland, the tobacco product is easy to obtain as it is brought in from neighbouring Sweden, which has a waiver on the EU snus ban.
 "Snus is actively sold, for instance, through social media, as well as in shops just over the border from Tornio, where it is easy to buy and bring into Finland without any monitoring," Rimpelä tells Yle.
 "The Swedes should crack down on it so that their snus does not get into other countries," she urges.
 On the plus side, she says, cigarette smoking has dropped drastically among young Finns in the past couple of decades.
 The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has carried out the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey every two years since 1977. This time there were 3,520 respondents.

Surprise turn: Teen consumption of alcohol and snus edges upward


Summary: Kids in Finland tend to receive an average monthly allowance of 28 euros from their parents for discretionary spending.

Finnish children receive the most pocket money from their parents, according to a poll from Danske Bank that asked families in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to report their children's monthly allowances.
 Parents responding to the poll in Finland reported giving their 8-14 year-old children 27.60 euros per month on average, or 6.35 euros per week.
 Children in Denmark and Norway received about 24 euros each month on average, while in Sweden the monthly amount was closer to 22 euros.
 Adjusted for purchasing power, the Finnish average allowance still comes out on top in the comparison, but in this scenario, the Danish amount drops to the bottom.
 The study into pocket money was carried out on behalf of Danske Bank by the data analytics firm YouGov. It included responses from more than 3,500 parents of children aged 8 to 14.
 Parents in Finland have lower earnings
 The finding that Finnish parents appear to be more generous in granting pocket money to their children is made more remarkable by other figures that show that, on average, Finnish earnings are lower than in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
 "That's why it's surprising that Finland came out on top. It can partly be explained by the fact that children in Finland tend to start receiving an allowance at the age of 10, when in other countries, parents start giving their kids pocket money earlier. The monthly allowances were larger for older children across all of the countries," says  Jukka Appelqvist , an economist with the Finnish branch of the Danish-owned bank.
 66% receive an allowance
 Previous Danske Bank studies have found that  two-thirds of children in Finland receive pocket money from their parents  in the form of an allowance. In general, it is still given as cash, compared to the other Nordics where electric transfers are becoming more prevalent.
 In Finland, 58 percent of parents taking part in the survey said they give their children pocket money so they will learn the value of work. Over 70 percent of the children are expected to clean their rooms, and 60 percent are required to do odd jobs around the house, like washing the dishes or bringing out the rubbish.
 In Sweden, parents report that their main impetus in giving their children pocket money is to teach them to save. Over 20 percent of Swedish children are not expected to do any work in return.

Finnish children receive most pocket money in Nordics


Summary: A nationalist group and an anti-Nazi association have informed Finnish law enforcement that they will march on Sunday.

Two years ago on 18 August, a  rejected asylum seeker from Morocco attacked unsuspecting bystanders with a knife  in the market square of the southern city of Turku, Finland. Ten people were stabbed; two of the victims died from their wounds. Two groups have told the police they will be marching in the city this Sunday to mark the two-year anniversary of the attack.
 A nationalist group calling itself Kansallismielisten liittouma (translated as "Nationalists' Alliance" and going by the initials KL) has informed the South-west Finland Police Department that it will carry out a march named 188 Kulkkavirta ("188 Flower Stream"). The group Turku ilman Nazis ("Turku Without Nazis") will also be on hand to demonstrate, as it has also completed the necessary pre-registration with the authorities.
 KL says it is a cooperative for nationalist and patriotic persons. It arranged a similar march last year on the anniversary of the attack, and members of the Nordic Resistance Movement, a far-right group that is banned in Finland, participated.
 Police hope to keep marches peaceful
 In November 2017, the Pirkanmaa District Court  banned the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL) in Finland , as well as its regional chapters and the PVL-linked Pohjoinen Perinne or Nordic Tradition group. PVL appealed the prohibition to a higher court, arguing that it violated freedom of speech, but in September 2018, the Turku Appeals Court  overruled the appeal , stating that the neo-Nazi group embraced  violence and criminal offences , activity that is not protected by law.
 The appeal court decision effectively makes it illegal for the Nordic Resistance Movement to mobilise, demonstrate and distribute propaganda in Finland.
 The Turku Without Nazis group says it opposes nationalist groups and objects to such organisations using the terrorist attack date as a platform for promoting their agenda.
 The South-west Finland Police Department says it is taking the necessary precautions to prepare for the Sunday demonstrations. It has requested temporary airspace restrictions in the Turku city centre, for example. The unit says its objective is to ensure that the events proceed peacefully, with due respect for the attack victims and their loved ones.

Police prepare for demos marking two-year anniversary of Turku terrorist attack


Summary: Yle analysis of cases considered closed by the Finnish police reveals fewer solved crimes and major regional differences.

Clearance rates for violent crimes in Finland are down by an average of nine percent throughout the country, according to analysis from the Finnish public broadcaster Yle.
 Defined as the number of crimes that police have cleared in relation to the total number of crimes reported, clearance rates for property crimes in Finland are similarly down by two percent. Significant regional variance in the number of police-cleared criminal complaints was also observed.
 Analysis from the public broadcaster Yle compared the number of violent crimes and property crimes reported to the police with how many of the crimes were cleared over the four-year period of 2014-2018. This number was then compared with the same figures from 2009-2013.
 Clearance rates don't necessarily give an accurate picture of police work. Finnish police mark crime reports "cleared", or for their part closed, when they decide on an appropriate fine or forward the case on to a prosecutor. The prosecutor may later decide to drop the case, so the fact that a crime report was cleared by police does not necessarily lead to charges.
 Cases that have been settled are also not included in clearance rate statistics, even though they have also been resolved. Cases rejected due to the age of the suspect or the fact that the suspect is also awaiting punishment for other crimes also fall into this category.
 Eastern Uusimaa has lowest clearance rate
 The lowest clearance rates in the country were discovered at the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department, which handles law enforcement duties in the eastern part of the capital city region. Eastern Uusimaa police cleared only about 58 percent of violent crimes reports (things like homicides and assaults) and 25 percent of property crimes (things like burglary and arson) in 2014-2018.
 These percentages were both down from corresponding numbers five years prior. Data from 2009-2013 indicate that nearly 78 percent of violent crime cases were cleared not too long ago in the area. This means that thousands more reports of violent crime were not investigated.
 Yle calculated that the average police clearance rate for the entire country works out to about 68 percent for violent crimes and 37 percent for property crimes.
 Police in Finland say the situation is not as dire as the statistics suggest. They say the general decline can be explained by a shortage of personnel, but a new policy has been launched to allow them to better concentrate their resources on clearing more serious crimes.
 New pre-trial investigation units reject more complaints
 New pre-trial investigation units also explain some of the phenomenon. According to the current procedure, criminal complaints submitted to the police in Finland are first examined by a preliminary clearing unit that is charged with screening the dozens or hundreds of crime reports filed daily to determine whether a crime has in actuality been committed. A decision to refer the complaint on to the prosecutor or issue a fine is then made by the unit, based on the severity of the offense, its societal significance and the probability that an investigation of the case will lead to charges.
 In a case of someone stealing beer from a shop, for example, a security camera image of the offender may not be judged enough anymore for clearing the case. If the name of the suspected offender is known, however, the unit might decide to refer the complaint.
 "The grand idea was that a pre-trial investigation unit would help make sure that only crimes that can truly be investigated will make it through to the detectives," says  Anneli Kalervo , a staff representative of the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department.
 Since the pre-trial investigation unit was adopted at the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department in 2016, many more crime reports are rejected early in the process or sometime during the investigation.
 "The police strategy now directs more resources to the investigation of serious offenses, and so [the clearance of] everyday crimes has taken a hit. The number of personnel that are responsible for investigating property crimes has been cut back. This is one reason for the drop we are seeing," says  Jyrki Aho , chief superintendent of the National Police Board.
 Lack of personnel in urban areas
 Aho says that Eastern Uusimaa police have far fewer people working in criminal investigation units than in Ostrobothnia, for example, when considered in proportion to how many crime reports are filed in the two areas. The northwest region of Ostrobothnia provides the best example in the Yle analysis, with over 80 percent of reported violent crimes and 40 percent of property crime reports cleared by local police.
 This spring, the Uusimaa Regional Administrative Office of the capital city region drew attention to the fact that the workload of criminal investigators in the Helsinki metropolitan area is exceedingly high.
 "The operational area there is very specialized. The airport alone is like a small city and ties up enormous resources all on its own," says Aho, referring to the Eastern Uusimaa unit.
 The number of criminal offenses in Finland continues to fall. National Police Commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen  reported in a July 2019 press release that "the internationally noted 'crime drop' phenomenon is also appearing in Finland’s crime statistics as a reduction in overall criminality".

Finnish police solving fewer violent crime cases


Summary: Mika Lintilä said the government won't reduce taxes on sanitary products, reports regional newspaper Keskisuomalainen.

It's unlikely that the government will lower Finland's "tampon tax", a 24 percent value-added tax (VAT) on sanitary products, Finance Minister  Mika Lintilä  told regional newspaper Keskisuomalainen over the weekend.
 However ahead of this spring's general election, Lintilä's Centre party called for slashing the value-added tax on menstrual products, to 10 percent from 24. But now Lintilä said the government will not take any measures to lower the so-called "pink tax" although EU regulations allow member states to reduce the VAT on women's sanitary products at their own discretion. He told the paper that lowering tax rates was not a part of the current government’s programme, though saying that minimising gender-based price discrimination was an important goal overall.
 Gender-based price discrimination has been under scrutiny in Finland since MP  Saara Hyrkkö   submitted an official request to parliament last month  to propose lowering taxes on women's sanitary products. The Greens representative proposed lowering the current 24 percent value-added tax on menstrual protection to 10 percent, arguing that such products are "regularly-needed hygiene necessities".
 Several countries have banned sales taxes for menstrual products altogether. Kenya was the first back in 2004, and Canada, Colombia, India, Ireland and most recently Australia are others that have since joined the list.

Finance Minister rejects proposal to lower Finland's "tampon tax"


Summary: Berry firms are looking to Asian states beyond Thailand after it curbed picker visas following trafficking scandals.

Finnish berry companies told Yle they are eager to recruit seasonal workers from other southeast Asian countries after Thailand cut the number of berry picking visas for Finland.
 Some 2,400 Thai berry pickers arrived in Finland this summer, but Finnish berry firms said this number, a slight reduction from last year's  2,500 Thai pickers , and a significant reduction from the 3,500 exit visas issued by Thailand in 2017, has left them with a worker shortage.
 In July,  Olli Sorainen , the Ministry of Employment and the Economy's Executive Counselor, told Yle that his department was unable to negotiate additional visas with Thai officials. The 2018 conviction of a  berry firm owner for trafficking 26 Thais into Finland  may have influenced the Thai authorities' decision to refuse the ministry's request. Last year, the owner of a berry company in central Finland was handed a suspended prison sentence and ordered to  pay some 200,000 euros in damages  to its Thai pickers. The case has since moved to an appeals court.
 Berry companies: "We need twice as many pickers"
 Janne Naapanki  of Sotkamo-based berry firm Arctic International said his company was desperately short of pickers.
 "This is an acute problem," he told Yle, explaining that his company was trying to get the visa process going with two southeast Asian countries.
 "We hope Finnish authorities open up new visa channels for berry picking," Naapanki added.
 Vernu Vasunta  of berry processor Kiantama in Suomussalmi said he wants to recruit pickers from Vietnam and China.
 The Foreign Ministry meanwhile said it was aware of Finnish berry entrepreneurs setting their sights on workers beyond Thailand.
 "The poorer the country of origin, the greater the risk of falling victim to human trafficking in Finland or the Schengen area,"  Leena Liukkonen , who heads the Foreign Ministry's visa unit, told Yle via email.
 Liukkonen also pointed out that visa applications from some countries may be subject to review by other Schengen states.
 "In these cases granting visas isn’t just up to Finland," Liukkonen explained.

Finnish berry companies face worker shortage as Thailand limits visas


Summary: Far-right and anti-Nazi demonstrators marched in Turku on Sunday.

A demonstration by far-right nationalists and a counter-demonstration by an anti-Nazi group marking the two-year anniversary of the Turku knife attack passed off peacefully in the southwestern city on Sunday. Police did not take any demonstrators into custody -- in contrast to last year's event when officials apprehended 11 protesters.
 Two years ago, on 18 August 2017,  Abderrahman Bouanane , a rejected asylum seeker from Morocco,  stabbed ten people in Turku's market square , killing two victims. He is serving a  life sentence  for the crimes.
 Some 250 people marched in the far-right Nationalists' Alliance procession, dubbed the "188 Flower Stream", while twice as many participants joined the "Turku Without Nazis" counter-demonstration.
 Story continues after photos.

 Andy Ödman / Yle
 Following the "188 Flower Stream's" moment of silence, Finns Party MP  Vilhelm Junnila  emerged to give a speech calling for the city of Turku to commemorate the victims of the attack by illuminating the Kirjastosilta bridge in Finnish flag colours every August 18th.
 The "Turku Without Nazis" counter-demonstration rallied against the nationalists' presence, saying the far-right group was using the anniversary of the attack to promote its own agenda.
 Story continues after photos.
 Paula Collin / Yle
 Paula Collin / Yle
 Amid fears of violence, the South-west Finland Police Department monitored the marches by car, motorcycle, boat as well as on foot.

Demonstrations marking Turku terrorist attack pass off peacefully


Summary: Measures to attract more early childhood education professionals and doctors to the public sector and more in today's review.

Helsingin Sanomat starts the week with a story on  the severe shortage of early childhood education professionals , as hundreds of vacancies remain unfilled throughout the country. The paper says it previously reported back in 2017 that  insufficient salaries  in the field had prompted 40 percent of daycare and kindergarten staff to consider changing occupations.
 HS writes that municipalities in Finland have since done little to remedy the problem. It mentions that in 2018, the cities in the capital region were accused of reaching an  under-the-table agreement  to keep salaries low, a claim that municipal employers denied. The cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa nevertheless decided that autumn to raise early childhood education salaries by between 145 and 175 euros per month, to around 2,600 euros.
 This small increase has not attracted more workers, HS says, and the dearth of trained teachers continues. Vantaa's HR director  Kirsi-Marja Lievonen  tells the paper that the city was looking to hire 150 early childhood education teachers and 50 childcare professionals last spring.
 An OAJ teachers' union expert  Kirsi Sutton  tells the paper that the situation won't improve until the number of early childhood education study places is increased at Finland's universities. Increases have already been made for the period 2018-2021, but Sutton tells the paper they will not be enough.
 A reform to Finland's early childhood education laws which came into effect in 2018 did not help with the shortfall, HS reports, as it requires two-thirds of all daycare personnel to be graduates of higher education programmes in early childhood education or social services by the year 2030.
 The city of Helsinki predicts that it will need to recruit 1,680 new teachers by that time to meet the requirement.
 A promise of more doctors
 Turku-based Turun Sanomat features an interview with social services minister  Krista Kiuru , who addresses another labour market insufficiency: the  lack of doctors at Finland's network of public health centres .
 She rejects recent rumours that have circulated about forcing medical doctor graduates to start work at clinics to solve the problem, saying the government prefers softer methods and has already  earmarked money to hire 1,000 new physicians  in the sector.
 "We have to make work at health centres so attractive that it will entice doctors to work there. Coercion is not the solution, as we have to convince them to stay for a longer period," she says.
 The influx of new doctors is intended to help reach the government's new "care guarantee" target, whereby patients with a complaint that is not considered acute would be guaranteed a doctor's appointment within a week of their initial consultation.
 "We will use state money to do away with long waits […] and collect best practices from different areas before the ' sote ' reform is enacted," Kiuru tells the paper.
 The training and recruiting of 1,000 new doctors will cost the Finnish state approximately 100 million euros. The government has appropriated 160 million euros in 2019-2022 for new hires and overall development of the health centre network.
 Hannu Haila , deputy chair of Finland's doctors' association, tells TS that in his view, Finland has plenty of doctors, but too many of them are employed in private health care companies.
 "Public health care centres are under-resourced, and this is one reason people don't dare to go work there. If the working conditions were better, they wouldn't have such a hard time filling the positions," he says.
 Opposition slams planned party funding increase
 Oulu-based Kaleva carries a report on  opposition party reaction to preliminary government budget plans to increase political party funding  by six million euros, or  20 percent .
 The news agency Lännen Media called around to the different parties to ask how they were planning to use the extra money. Representatives of the Social Democrats and Greens said they were planning to "improve young people's ability to have an influence" and strengthen skills at electoral districts.
 The Finns Party said it was not very happy about the news, as "too much taxpayers' money is already used to support political activity", Kaleva writes.
 "The increase is clearly a government ploy to give the Centre Party a leg-up, as its  finances collapsed  after its loss of election support," the nationalist party's secretary  Simo Grönroos  told the paper.
 The Christian Democrats agreed with their partners in the opposition.
 "Some kind of small increase would have surely been necessary, but one like this is beyond reasonable," says the party secretary  Asmo Maanselkä.
 The Centre Party says it doesn't have any specific plans yet for how to use the added funds, choosing not to comment on the party's financial situation.
 "Political parties offer voters the opportunity to influence the political agenda. This is recognised as an important goal in Finland. The needs of the individual parties and a possible increase to party support are both secondary in comparison to this," the Centre Party secretary  Riikka Pirkkalainen  tells the paper.

Monday's papers: Daycare worker and doctor shortage, party funding hike slammed


Summary: Perceived intergenerational inequality in Finland is eroding young people's faith in the pension system.

Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö SAK

The youth wings of several political parties say pensions should be cut in the name of generational equality.
 The divide between young and old is raising debate among Finland's political youth groups. Young adults are questioning whether comfortable pensions will be out of their reach as they struggle to  find steady jobs  and  get a foot on the housing ladder .
 This summer the new government of PM  Antti Rinne   announced it would raise minimum pensions , a key election promise made by his Social Democratic Party (SDP). But that hasn't stopped the youth wings of the Greens, Centre — and even the SDP — from questioning the sustainability of the system as a whole.
 In Finland, any discussion pertaining to lowering pensions has long been seen as political suicide as retirees are the country's most active voters.
 Breaking a 'holy' promise
 Meddling with pension payments is an unfathomable idea to many in Finland, but the Green youths told Yle that many young people have lost their faith in the system.
 "We're interpreting pensions from a 1960s legal perspective which sees retirements — a social benefit — as personal property," Green Youth chair  Amanda Pasanen  told Yle.
 "We should radically minimise the cost of maintaining pensions for the system to remain sustainable and fair for future generations,"  Sameli Sivonen , Pasanen's co-chair added.
 The Green Youths point out that the Finnish and Swedish systems rely on opposite approaches for shoring up money in the face of dwindling state coffers. While Finland has resorted to raising the level of statutory pension contributions from wage earners, Sweden's response has been to cut pensions. The Swedish system includes a 'brake' mechanism on index adjustments that triggers when the economy weakens.
 Suvi Mäkeläinen  of the Finnish Centre Party Youth has also come out in favour of a 'brake' mechanism, saying it would mainly affect those with large pensions and not retirees on the lower end of the scale.
 Vesa Rantahalvari  of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) said that while slowing down index adjustments could be a good way to shore up funds, he said his organisation is primarily focused on raising Finland's  falling birthrate , increasing  work-based immigration  and  improving employment  overall.
 Meanwhile  Sinikka Näätsaari  who heads pension policy matters at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) pointed out that  recent retirement age hikes  have increased the pool of people paying into the system to ease the state's burden.
 But  Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi  of the SDP's youth organisation is not convinced that increasing the contribution base will be enough.
 "People born during or after the 1970s are definitely not winners in the system," he said. "The next pension reform will have to address generational equality."

Finland's young politicians want to roll back pensions


Summary: After a decade  or so of only about 20 reported cases annually, 2018 saw 43 cases detected on cattle and pig farms.

The number of salmonella infections reported from Finnish farms roughly doubled in 2018 to 43 cases, reports the Kuopio-based newspaper Savon Sanomat. In previous years, between 10 and 15 cases were reported on average annually on cattle farms, along with about 10 infections on pig farms. The paper says that this year has also seen a higher tally than average so far.
 No particular reason for the higher infection rates has been established.
 Veterinarians from the ETT animal health inspection group says the most common cause of salmonella infections in the past have been feed stores and drinking basins that have been contaminated by faeces from birds and rodents. In calf rearing stations, salmonella infections usually originate from one of the dairy farms selling calves to the facility, ETT says.
 Salmonella bacteria are found in intestinal tracts and can be transferred from animals to other animals and humans, leading to various illnesses such as diarrhoea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting.
 Finland has been touted as "virtually salmonella-free"
 A May report from the Finnish Food Authority found that Finnish beef causes the highest percentage of salmonella infections among domestic food products. It states that a statistical model it has devised to analyse data from 2008-2015 also shows that imported beef "might cause" even more infections than domestic beef, although less imported meat is sold in Finland. Poultry farming causes only a very small percentage of the country's salmonella infections, the authority says.
 When compared to the rest of the world, Finland, Sweden and Norway have traditionally maintained very low salmonella infection rates. This is due in part to the cold climate.
 Each of the countries also runs a Salmonella Control Programme that imposes strict standards for the control of salmonella in production animals and foods of animal origin. If salmonella is detected, the farms are immediately put under restrictions until the infection is eradicated.

Rise in salmonella infections on Finnish farms


Summary: Employees say they fear that their careers may come to a halt if they report harassment or other problems.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  says he plans to stamp out the harassment reported by staff members including some posted at Finland's embassies and other overseas missions.
 "There is no place for any kind of discrimination, harassment or bullying at the Foreign Ministry or any other workplace," Haavisto told an annual meeting of Finnish ambassadors in Helsinki on Monday.
 He spoke just after returning from Sudan and before hosting his Iranian counterpart.
 Haavisto said he had raised the issue of harassment at an employee meeting in early summer, but that he wanted to reiterate his message publicly.
 According to a study published last spring by the previous government, one in six ministry employees reported having experienced harassment. However many reported a reluctance to discuss the matter openly and a fear that managers might block the career advancement of those who speak out.
 "Immediate intervention"
 Three years ago the Finnish ambassador to Stockholm was  issued a warning and recalled  due to sexual harassment allegations. Still, some workers say the old culture remains deeply seated in the ministry.
 Haavisto says he plans to change the working culture in regard to speaking out, and condemned efforts to conceal and hush matters up.
 "I will ensure that reporting such matters is [considered] a service to the Foreign Ministry and its atmosphere," he told the envoys.
 The foreign minister stressed that responsibility lies with managers.
 "If I hear of any kind of inappropriate behaviour, there will be immediate intervention," Haavisto said.
 Sudan transition and Iranian human rights
 Haavisto took over as foreign minister from Finns Party founder  Timo Soini  in early June.
 Last month Haavisto was appointed as the EU negotiator in the Sudan crisis, helping to broker a political agreement between the Transition Military Council and the Forces for Freedom and Change.
 This past weekend he was in Khartoum to sign the agreement on a transitional period on behalf of the EU, expressing praise "first to the people of Sudan, in particular the women and youth, who stood firm but peacefully to have their voice heard."
 Also on Monday, Haavisto hosts a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister  Mohammed Javad Zarif , who is also meeting with President  Sauli Niinistö .
 According to the Finnish Foreign Ministry, discussions will include human rights and Finland's EU presidency term, which began in July.

Haavisto pledges crackdown on harassment at Foreign Ministry


Summary: Lawyers from the Polish group claim the environmental impact of the 1,200-metre gas pipeline has not been properly assessed.

Finland's Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a lower court decision to go ahead with construction of a 374-kilometre-long section of the Nord Stream 2 AG pipeline that will traverse the country's exclusive economic zone under the Baltic Sea.
 The decision was in response to a complaint from the non-profit  Client Earth  group in Poland. Client Earth's environmental lawyers argue that the construction documents are incomplete and inaccurate, as they fail to consider the impact the pipeline will have on marine wildlife.
 The Polish organisation appealed against the decision to the Vaasa Administrative Court after the Finnish authorities gave a  green light to the project  in April 2018. The court in Vaasa decided not to consider the case, however, as the Polish organisation's remit did not extend to the Finnish territory in question.
 ClientEarth  has also filed a complaint to Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court to halt a section of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that will cut through Swedish waters.
 Worries about Russian energy dependence
 The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the complaint, ruling that the lower court's decision had been carried out in accordance with international agreements and Finnish legislation.
 The natural gas pipeline project has faced opposition and criticism from a number of different quarters, with Finland's Baltic neighbours in particular voicing concerns about whether the pipeline will increase the EU's dependence on Russian gas. German Chancellor  Angela Merkel  also sought clarifications on Ukraine's role in the project when approvals were first sought last year.
 In May this year, United States secretary of energy  Rick Perry  said the US was  considering sanctioning firms involved in the construction project , which includes majority-state-owned Finnish energy company Fortum.
 The 1,200-kilometre pipeline will run from Russia to Germany. Ilkka Kemppinen / Yle
 The Nord Stream 2 AG pipeline is owned and operated by the multi-national energy consortium Nord Stream AG, of which the Russian gas company Gazprom is a majority shareholder. The pipeline is scheduled for completion by the end of 2019 and commercial use is expected to begin next year.
 The pipeline is intended to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Vyborg in Russia to central Europe via the German port of Greifswald. The total length of the two parallel pipelines is approximately 1,200 kilometres, of which about 374 kilometres will be located in Finnish waters.

Supreme Court dismisses Client Earth objection to Nord Stream pipeline


Summary: Most of the 200 crime reports from Tampere city centre over the weekend were related to the hip-hop festival.

Police officers in the southern Finnish city of Tampere were kept busy over this past weekend as the annual hip-hop music and cultural festival Blockfest took place in and around Ratina stadium in the centre of the city.
 More than 200 crime reports were recorded over the course of the weekend from the central Tampere area, of which about 160 were directly linked to the Blockfest event, a figure which police say is remarkably high when compared to previous events in the city.
 Most of the suspected crimes were drug-related, and almost all were committed near the festival grounds. According to the Central Finland police department, they recorded two serious drug offenses, as well as 22 offences involving the sale of drugs and 103 incidents of drug abuse.
 Twenty-one of the suspected offenders were minors.
 In addition to narcotics offences, police recorded a number of other suspected crimes including aggravated assault, assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, a minor firearm offence, and an aviation violation, among others.
 Furthermore, dozens of minors were taken into custody by police after allegedly attempting to barge into the venue, apparently to avoid paying.
 American rapper A$AP Rocky performed at Blockfest on Friday night. Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
 The two-day festival also marked the second performance by American rapper  A$AP Rocky  since he received a suspended prison sentence in Sweden for an assault committed in Stockholm city centre on June 30. The musician's conviction was not popular with the Tampere crowd, as chants of "F *  Sweden" were heard between songs.

Minors among hundreds suspected of drug-related offences during Blockfest


Summary: The number of job vacancies were slightly higher during the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

Health and social services, education and public administration were the sectors with the strongest growth in job vacancies between mid-2018 and mid-2019, the state statistics agency said on Monday.
 Statistics Finland reported that there were 12,000 jobs advertised in these sectors in the second quarter of 2019, up from 10,300 in the same period one year ago. There were fewer jobs available in the construction sector, down from 6,400 open positions last year to 4,800 this year.
 In total, Statistics Finland reported 50,900 job vacancies in Finland in April, May and June, only slightly more than the 49,500 positions advertised during the same months last year.
 In the second quarter of 2019, 37,700 or 74 percent of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises, almost the same share as one year earlier. There were likewise 4,500 more job vacancies available in workplaces with fewer than five employees.
 Year-on-year, the number of job vacancies was down overall in most of southern Finland, but up in Helsinki as well as northern and eastern parts of the country.
 Job vacancies slightly up on last year
 Despite the slight increase in overall open positions, the number of fixed-term and part-time jobs were down six percentage points from 2018 figures for the same period. In this year's second quarter, 13 percent of all job vacancies were part-time positions and 33 percent were fixed-term.
 Of all the posted job vacancies, employers estimated that 60 percent (30,400) were hard to fill, up from the 2018 percentage of 52 percent (26,000). Sectors with the most jobs labelled hard to fill were the wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and health and social work.
 In the second quarter of last year, employees were being sought for 9,300 part-time jobs, while this year the number dropped to 6,600 in the same three-month time. Temporary positions on offer fell from 19,200 to 16,900.

Second quarter sees year-on-year rise in health, education job openings


Summary: Oil was first seen along the shores of Ullanlinna and Kaivopuisto late Sunday.

Police are looking into a minor oil spill that was detected late Sunday in sea water off the coast of Helsinki, between the Merisatama harbour on the mainland and the small island of Liuskasaari.
 Fire chief  Timo Ustinov  from the Helsinki Rescue Department says the oil is believed to have leaked into the water from land.
 Earlier another rescue official,  Paul Nyberg , told Yle that the oil floating near the Kaivopuisto park shore may have come from a vessel anchored at a nearby guest harbour or from a mishap at a maritime filling station on Liuskasaari.
 As of Monday evening, officials had not yet pinpointed the type of oil or how much was spilled.
 Inspector  Ismo Siltamäki  of the Helsinki Police says it is also so far unclear what criminal charges might be brought if the culprit is identified.
 Three rescue services vessels were on the scene by 11pm Sunday evening. They worked to set up over 150 metres of containment booms, or floating barriers, to keep the oil within a confined area.
 The Border Guard is taking samples and rescue personnel reported a strong fuel oil smell, but as yet there is no information as to the type of oil or how it got into the sea. Officials say the nearby boat harbour has several dozen berths for visiting boaters.

Police investigate oil leak in waters off Helsinki


Summary: The five Nordic prime ministers are to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a working lunch.

On his first visit to Iceland since taking office in June, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  meets on Monday evening with his Icelandic counterpart,  Katrín Jakobsdóttir . Besides bilateral and Nordic issues, the two are to discuss the Arctic Council.
 At a meeting in Rovaniemi in May, Iceland took over as chair of the eight-nation organisation after a two-year Finnish term. Besides the five Nordic states, it includes Russia, Canada and the US.
 On Tuesday Rinne and Jakobsdóttir join the other three Nordic prime ministers for their annual informal summer meeting in Reykjavik. Besides Nordic cooperation, they are to discuss climate policy and other current international issues such as the fate of the families of ISIS fighters now in a refugee camp in Syria.
 Left-leaning PMs
 As Finland's MTV news notes, four of the five premiers are leftists, including Rinne's fellow Social Democrats  Stefan Löfven  of Sweden and  Mette Fredriksen  of Denmark. Jakobsdottir represents the Left-Green Movement while Norway's  Erna Solberg  is the only conservative among the group.
 Also attending are representatives of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland, as well as German Chancellor  Angela Merkel . She is to join the premiers for a working lunch.
 Measures to combat climate change will again be on the agenda along other global issues and German-Nordic cooperation.

Climate, Arctic on the agenda as Prime Minister Rinne visits Iceland


Summary: Helsinki’s metro system is recovering from Friday’s flash flooding, but trains will not be stopping at one station in the city centre.

Public transport in Helsinki is running almost normally on Saturday after more than a month’s worth of rain fell in a single day on Friday, causing  flash floods and severe disruption to metro services .
 The metro station at the central railway station, however, remains closed on Saturday and as of Saturday morning metro operator HKL said it did not know when services would resume.
 Services will pass through the station without stopping while engineers work to fix technical faults after floodwater was pumped out of the facility on Friday.
 On Friday metro services were cancelled between Helsinki University and Ruoholahti stations, effectively cutting off the city centre from the underground network.
 HKL advises passengers on Saturday to use buses or trams to reach Kamppi or Helsinki University stations, although both are around a 500 metre walk.
 Friday's precipitation was exceptionally heavy, with 50.2 mm of rain falling over the course of the day.
 That is the ninth highest figure on record at Kaisaniemi weather station, and the highest since 22 August 2011,  according  to meteoriologist Mika Rantanen.
 The metro network’s recovery is just in time for the Finnish football league Veikkausliiga’s ”metro derby” between HJK Helsinki and FC Honka, which will go ahead as planned at Tapiola, Espoo, at 1pm.

Helsinki metro returning to normal, central station remains closed


Summary: Finland's press covers regional differences in employment subsidies, party meetings, market closures and superbikes.

The Oulu-based paper Kaleva carries a story on  unequal distribution of EU unemployment subsidies in Finland .
 Analysis by the Uutissuomalainen news service found that in the current 2014-2020 funding period, jobless residents in the east and north of Finland received five times more EU structural fund programme money (9,688 euros per capita) than people without work in the west and south (1,875 euros per capita). The paper points out that Finland's east and north receive 70 percent of the total 1.3 billion euros in  European Union  funding, despite being home to only one-quarter of the population.
 Kaleva writes that municipal leaders in areas receiving less funding are lobbying for a change in the subsidy's distribution criteria.
 "The criteria should in future not just be based on population, but also things like GDP, climate change and migration. Things like unemployment, youth unemployment, low education levels and social exclusion should also be factored in,"  Jaakko Mikkola , municipal director of Kymenlaakso, tells the paper. The municipality of Kymenlaakso has one of Finland's highest unemployment rates, at 9.1 percent.
 NCP meets to plan opposition strategy
 Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reports on the  party leadership congress of Finland's conservative National Coalition Party , being held today and tomorrow in the southwest city of Turku.
 Currently  the second-largest party in Finland, the NCP meeting will begin this morning with an address by party chair  Petteri Orpo . He has said he is willing to continue in his leadership role, and a delegate vote today will see if he receives a mandate to continue. ESS writes that a poll in late August in the paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus found that only 17 percent of respondents would vote for Orpo, while party members  Elina Lepomäki  and  Antti Häkkänen  both attracted 19 percent support. Neither Lepomäki nor Häkkänen has come forward to challenge Orpo for the position, however.
 The NCP was relegated to the opposition after Finland's elections in April, after government negotiations with Social Democrat Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  were unable to find enough common ground. ESS reports that this is the first government term in twelve years where the NCP has not been a part of the ruling coalition.
 Putin's visit to shut down Helsinki market
 The tabloid Iltalehti talks about Russian President  Vladimir Putin 's upcoming  working visit to Finland  on Wednesday. Putin will meet with Finland's President  Sauli Niinistö  for  official discussions  in the Presidential Palace, where they plan to cover several bilateral and international issues. After a joint press conference, the visit will conclude with a dinner at the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.
 This last item on the agenda will force the Market Square, a tourist mecca in the heart of the capital city, to close for the day. IL asked some of the stand owners how they felt about the market closure. Some were disappointed not to be able to sell their souvenirs, fresh fruit or fish during the height of the tourist season, but others were glad to have the luxury of a day off.
 Traffic in and around the Market Square will be redirected starting at noon tomorrow, and maritime activity in the harbour will also be limited. No private boats will be allowed in the area, and tourist boats to the zoo and the fortress, for example, will be re-routed to depart from piers in Hakaniemi and Katajanokka.
 Superbikes hit capital streets
 And finally, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat has a feature story on a  new brand of "jet-propulsion" city bikes  capable of speeds of up to 45 kilometres per hour that are coming to the capital city.
 The Swiss company Bond Mobility will soon roll out a fleet of 100 bicycles that will have a range of up to 100 kilometres. Like with the controversial  electric scooters , users simply need to download an application to use the shared battery-powered "Bond" bikes. In the same way, they can also leave them anywhere when they are done using them. The app warns its customers to use the fast-moving bikes with caution and use a helmet.
 Traffic safety police superintendent  Konsta Arvelin  has responded to the new bike sharing scheme with apprehension about the danger they present, and with an important clarification: The fast electric bikes are categorised as mopeds, not bicycles. They might look like a bike, but closer inspection will reveal that they have small license plates, as they are registered in Finland as mopeds.
 "The same traffic laws apply to them as apply to mopeds: the same blood alcohol content limitations and the same legal requirement to wear a helmet. They are banned from pavements and footpaths," he said.
 Arvelin adds that Finnish traffic laws also prohibit mopeds from using regular bike paths, with the exception of certain paths that have a special mention that mopeds are allowed. He says the only place the Bond bikes can be used is in the city is in traffic, on the right side of the road.

Tuesday's papers: EU funding disparity, NCP congress, Putin preparations and Bond bikes


Summary: Research study finds that loneliness creates anxiety, affects sleeping patterns, and is more common in girls than boys.

One in five year nine student in Finland is lonely, according to the results of a World Health Organisation survey carried out in Finland by the University of Jyväskylä.
 The WHO's global school-based student health survey (GSHS) "is a collaborative surveillance project designed to help countries measure and assess the behavioural risk factors and protective factors in 10 key areas among young people aged 13 to 17 years," according to the WHO's  website .
 The research also found that loneliness is particularly prevalent among ninth-grade girls in Finland, with one in four reporting that they are "very or fairly often lonely".
 Lonely school children are more likely to experience pain, anxiety and difficulty falling asleep than other school children, the research discovered, and are also more likely to take medicine in an attempt to deal with their isolation.
 "If you have a headache, you are just as likely to take a painkiller, whether you are lonely or not. However, lonely schoolgirls are more likely to take medicine to cure anxiety or to help with falling asleep," researcher  Nelli Lyyra  explains.
 Adults responsible for safe environment
 The researchers suggest a number of options for combatting loneliness. Previous research has demonstrated that developing social skills and being involved in activities specifically directed at younger people helps to reduce isolation in children and adolescents.
 "The school can provide a safe social growth environment that the student feels a sense of belonging and acceptance. However, creating a socially safe school environment is always the responsibility of adults," Lyyra says, adding that schools can have an influence on how students treat each other.
 "The skills and behaviors learned at home are also of great importance such as, for example, treating everyone with respect and knowing how to empathise with others," Lyyra says.

Report: One-fifth of ninth-graders in Finland lonely


Summary: The court ruled that the bus and coach companies and their lobby group ran a cartel from 2010 to 2015.

Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court KHO has imposed heavier fines on seven bus companies found to be  operating a cartel that stifled competition  between 2010 and 2015.
 The Market Court  had previously penalised each of the firms involved  in the cartel to the tune of 100,000 euros. However the Court threw out this decision, noting that it did not take into account the varying sizes and turnovers of the companies involved.
 The Competition and Consumer Authority, KKV, challenged the ruling and called for million-euro penalties for the bus companies, with the inter-city bus and coach company, Matkahuolto expected to shoulder an eight-million-euro fine.
 The Court ruled that given the nature, scale, duration and reprehensible nature of the anti-trust behaviour and Matkahuolto’s role in the enterprise, it would increase the market court sanction to 4.3 million euros.
 Lower penalties for smaller firms
 The Court ordered Koivisto Auto, one of Finland’s largest bus companies, to pay 2.3 million, while smaller firms such as Väiniö Paunu and Vainio were sanctioned smaller sums such as 600,000 and 500,000 euros respectively. The Savonlinja group instead was required to fork out 400,000 euros and Pohjolan Matka and Pohjolan Liikenne both paid 300,000-euro fines. The Court upheld the 100,000-euro sanction imposed on Turku-based Länsilinjat and the Finnish bus and coach association Linja-autoliitto.
 The KHO found that in 2010 seven bus firms and the bus sector lobby group Linja-autoliitto excluded new providers from Matkahoulto’s schedules and ticket sales services as well as parcel delivery services. The intention was to prevent or at least make it more difficult for competitors to enter the market and to maintain the status of players already in the market.
 The court found that the anti-competitive behaviour prevented and delayed the liberalisation of the market and delayed opening it up to competition. It noted that the infringement of competition law and union anti-trust regulations continued from 2010 to 2015.

Supreme Administrative Court hikes fine in long-running bus cartel case


Summary: The OP Financial Group will begin co-determination talks with 3,000 employees at the end of August.

OP Financial Group announced on Tuesday that it would slash its headcount by up to 250 due to planned changes in its operating model.
 Co-determination talks are due to begin on 26 August and will affect 3,000 employees altogether. According to initial information from the company, the introduction of the new operating model will also lead to the creation of new roles within the company, which are to be offered to current members of staff facing redundancy.
 OP's plans include an expansion into corporate banking and insurance, which will bring about changes in the structure of the company as well as the redefinition of certain roles. OP Financial Group's member banks will not be affected by the negotiations.
 "We noticed during the spring how big the change in the operating model will be. Our goal is to reduce bureaucracy, lighten the organisation and and delegate decision-making power to self-directed teams," says  Hannakaisa Länsisalmi , the OP Group's Vice President of Human Resources.
 The new model has fewer levels of hierarchy, meaning that there will be less middle management, according to Länsisalmi.
 "Operations will be based on a team structure, where each team has a team leader, and there are development officers and coaches for a particular product or service, who will help teams learn flexible practices and continually improve their operations," she explains.
 Employee representative wary
 The OP Financial Group also conducted  co-determination talks in October last year , amid a full corporate restructuring that aimed to cut costs by 100 million euros. At that time, the restructuring led to 700 roles within the organisation being cut, while 1,000 new ones were created.
 At the time, workers' representatives were delighted with the result of the restructure.
 "I was calmer last autumn than I am now", says chief shop steward  Eija Laurila . "That's because now we cannot estimate how many new work responsibilities will be created. The fact that we are doing well financially makes me calmer, however."
 Laurila added that she is also concerned by the challenges some personnel may face adjusting to the new roles.
 "The biggest challenge is how well the skills of the staff will meet the demands of the new tasks, or how to get the balance right. That's what's uppermost in my mind right now. But I'm trying to approach things with an open mind," she said.

Finland's OP finance group looks to cut 250 jobs


Summary: Police said it's possible the men have left the country give the time that has elapsed since the shooting.

Investigators confirmed late Sunday afternoon that they suspect two men of  opening fire on two policemen on Saturday night  as the officers responded to a routine call in Porvoo, some 50 kilometres east of Helsinki.
 National Bureau of Investigation lead investigator  Kimmo Huhta-aho  told journalists gathered for a press conference that the men are both suspected of attempted murder. However he said that at this stage police could not disclose any distinguishing marks that might be used to identify the perpetrators. He added that some details of the case are only known to police and the perpetrators and therefore could not be shared. He promised to provide more information in the next few hours.
 Possibility suspects have left the country
 Huhta-aho said investigators’ reticence on certain issues does not mean that they do not have an idea of the suspects’ whereabouts. However he added that the time elapsed since the incident occurred had increased the possibility that the suspects had left the country.
 Huhta-aho said as far as police know the suspects were not injured in the incident. In response to a question about their nationalities he responded that this is still being checked and that police would say more when the time is right.
 Aki Karvonen , deputy chief of Itä-Uusimaa police department outlined the evening’s course of events for journalists. He said that a patrol from the Porvoo police department responded to a routine call from the emergency dispatch at about 12.22am, arriving at the scene at around 12.30am.
 According to Karvonen, upon arrival at the industrial area in Ölstens in western Porvoo, the officers were almost immediately accosted and ordered to hand over their weapons. Following the gunfire, a backup patrol arrived on the scene "within minutes".
 The area was sealed off and checkpoints were set up in the vicinity of the shooting to ensnare the suspects.
 Speculation about an ambush
 In response to a question about whether or not the incident was an ambush, Huhta-aho commented that it was too soon say but the possibility was being investigated.
 Head of the Itä-Uusimaa police department  Kari Rantala  disclosed that one of the police officers injured in the shooting was still in hospital but not in any immediate danger. The other had already been discharged.
 He speculated that the men’s protective gear may have saved their lives and protected them from more serious injury.
 The police operation that followed the shooting wrapped around 6.30am on Sunday. Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva
 Police commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen  noted that Finnish police put their lives on the line every day to safeguard society and added that instances of violence against the police had doubled since 2000.
 However he said that cases like the Porvoo incident were still rare in Finland compared to other parts of Europe.
 During his first monthly "PM’s hour" radio interview as premier, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  said that violence against the police reflected "fundmaental changes in society". The last time  a police officer was killed on the job was in 2016 .
 He said that his administration had recognised the need for more police resources and pointed out that his administration was the first in 10 years to beef up police ranks.
 "It may not be as much as needed but 300 new police officers would be a plus in this situation," he remarked.

Police confirm two male suspects still on the loose after southern Finland police shootings


Summary: Police said they would provide additional details on the case later on Sunday morning.

Two police officers were reportedly shot while on duty in the southern Finland town of Porvoo on Saturday night. According to regional paper Uusimaa, the suspected shooters have been detained by police.
 The incident reportedly occurred in the Eestinmäki district of Porvoo, a town some 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. Media reported that authorities conducted a large-scale operation in the area following the shooting, in which heavily armed police stopped and searched motorists on the Porvoo highway.
 A helicopter was deployed to sweep the area for the suspects while tactical officers from the specialist Bear Team unit also joined the manhunt.
 Yle reporter  Emil Johansson  said that the operation appeared to wrap up around 6.30 on Sunday morning, when the last police vehicles left the area.
 The wounded police officers received treatment for their injuries and were said to be in no grave danger, field chief  Olavi Merihaara  told Uusimaa.
 "They are now in good hands at the hospital and doing well," Merihaara said.
 Police were otherwise tight-lipped about the details of the case and said they would provide an update at 10.00am on Sunday.

Suspects held in shooting of two police officers in southern Finland


Summary: Finnish administrative courts have whittled down a backlog of over 10,000 appeals on negative asylum decisions to 1,800.

Courts in Finland have made significant progress clearing a backlog involving thousands of  asylum decision appeals . The caseload had been generated in the Finnish court system after 30,000 asylum seekers arrived in the country in 2015-2016 and over 10,000 appealed their negative asylum decisions.
 The public broadcaster Yle has established that only 1,800 appeal cases are still pending in June of 2019, significantly fewer than in 2016-2018, but still more than existed before the substantial influx of migrants began in 2015.
 "Now we are now working through appeals lodged in 2018 and 2019. We have gotten through the worst of the backlog, but I doubt that we ever will be able to get the number much lower again," says  Liisa Heikkilä , a senior judge with the Helsinki Administrative Court.
 In 2016 alone, ten times the normal number of appeals, or 10,418 cases, were lodged with Finland's administrative courts. Authorities decided to dispense with the backlog by splitting up the appeals among four of the six courts, which are located in Helsinki, Hämeenlinna, Eastern Finland, Northern Finland, Turku and Vaasa.
 Advocacy group says changes undermined legal protections
 The Finnish Refugee Advice Centre says subsequent legislative changes to hasten asylum decisions did not bring the intended benefits. It says factors like shortening the time window for appeals from 30 days to 21 days in administrative courts and just 14 days in the Supreme Administrative Court weakened the legal protections of asylum seekers considerably.
 "It is the only group of people made subject to shorter appeal times, and it hasn't shortened the total appeal processing times at all," says  Hanna Laari , a lawyer with the centre.
 Laari welcomes plans from  Antti Rinne 's government to reinstall the 30-day limit for all appellants. A project to rewrite the law in this area will begin at the interior and justice ministries this spring.
 The Refugee Advice Centre's lawyer also says that the appellate court process currently doesn't provide enough opportunities for oral hearings, as it prefers less costly and time-intensive written options.
 "Oral hearings are almost exclusively used for assessing the credibility of people who say they have converted to Christianity or identify as a sexual minority. This sends a special kind of message that no other reasons are considered relevant in Finland," Laari says.
 The Ministry of Justice has granted administrative courts funding for 50 additional employees this year, and 20 more judges are expected to be appointed to the bench by 2020.
 The goal is to keep the caseload spread out among four courts until the number of appeals falls back to between 1,200 and 1,000 and average processing times are cut to six months from the current rate of one year.

Asylum decision appeal case load approaches pre-2015 levels


Summary: A spokesperson for the Finnish PM Antti Rinne said that the EU would not re-negotiate the existing agreement.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Finland has poured cold water on a bid by UK Prime Minister  Boris Johnson  to re-negotiate a deal brokered by his predecessor  Theresa May  to manage the country’s  departure from the European Union .
 On Tuesday, Finnish premier  Antti Rinne  said through a spokesperson that the EU has no intention of revisiting the separation agreement that May finalised in November 2018, following UK citizens’ 2016 vote to leave the regional bloc.
 The spokesperson indicated that the matter had been discussed on Monday. Finland began its  presidency of the Council of the European Union  on 1 July.
 European Union Council president  Donald Tusk  said that a letter Johnson had sent to the EU outlining his new proposal did not contain a realistic alternative to the so-called "backstop" element of May’s deal.
 "The backstop is an insurance [sic] to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it," Tusk tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.
 The Johnson plan: Ditch the backstop
 A key element of Johnson’s proposal to re-negotiate the withdrawal agreement on the table involves abandoning the backstop, which he described as undemocratic and impossible to implement.
 The arrangement is a fundamental part of the separation agreement negotiated with May and an essential criterion for Ireland to accept the UK’s withdrawal from the union.
 The backstop refers to a system by which the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland – which is part of the UK – remains as open as possible, according to the BBC. The arrangement is also seen as important factor in preventing a return to instability in Ireland.
 The parties to the Brexit deal have agreed not to introduce physical borders or border arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The backstop arrangement would come into the picture in the event that there is no agreement on an open border. It requires close ties between the EU and Northern Ireland and in practice would require the latter to abide by certain EU regulations.
 The UK PM believes that British lawmakers could be persuaded to accept a Brexit withdrawal deal if the backstop provision is eliminated from the current agreement.

Finland, EU reject UK PM’s bid to re-open Brexit deal


Summary: A Finnish woman and her Turkish husband were killed and their three children were injured when their car hit two trucks.

A Finnish-Turkish family was involved in a severe traffic accident on a motorway in the north of Lithuania late on Monday night, which claimed the lives of the family's Finnish mother and Turkish father. According to local police, the man was 39 and the woman was 33.
 The couple's three children, two boys aged 11 and nine and a three-year-old girl, were also injured in the crash and are currently being treated in the intensive care unit of a local hospital. Authorities have not yet confirmed the children's nationality.
 Tuomas Sottinen , communications officer with Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said the ministry is aware of the incident but because of the privacy issues involved, cannot make any comment at this time.
 Sottinen told Yle that the ministry will offer assistance through the local consulate.
 Local media in Lithuania  reported that the BMW car involved in the accident was registered in Finland, and that it was being driven at the time by the father of the family.
 According to Lithuanian police, the accident occurred just before midnight on the Panevėžys-Pasvalys-Riga motorway, when the family's car collided with a semi-trailer truck which propelled it into the path of a second semi-trailer.

Finnish-Turkish family in fatal car crash in Lithuania


Summary: A working group survey revealed that at least 10 children had "disappeared" from Helsinki primary schools in 2017.

The city of Helsinki has announced a programme to help schools and children’s NGOs better recognise situations where planned trips by migrant-background families might endanger children’s safety.
 According to a report by tabloid daily Ilta-Sanomat,  the guidelines will advise adults working with immigrant-background children  (in Finnish) how to ensure that when youngsters travel abroad  they are not subjected to female genital mutilation  (FGM) or forced marriage and that their studies are not interrupted for extended periods.
 The guidelines were cooked up by a working group that attempted to determine the scale of such phenomena as well as suggest measures to combat them.
 "The issue first came up in a relationship violence working group. I began to investigate whether or not anything had been done at the city level and then set up a working group," said  Mirjami Silvennoinen , a specialist with Helsinki’s security and preparedness unit.
 The expert group comprised representatives from the city, the foreign ministry, Helsinki police department, the National Education Agency, the National Institute for Health and Welfare THL, youth organisation Children of the Station and NGO Fenix Helsinki.
 10 minors go off grid in 2017
 A survey by the working group revealed that at least 10 children had "disappeared" from Helsinki primary schools in 2017. The survey was sent to roughly 100 Helsinki primary schools last year, with 22 responding.
 Silvennoinen said that the number of missing children reported does not necessarily reflect reality and that the working group's pointers indicate how to operate in situations where care givers and teachers encounter foreign-background children about to travel abroad.
 She told Ilta-Sanomat that if a child misses more than 50 hours of school, authorities usually file a child welfare notification. However she said that notifications should be lodged well before that threshold if concerns arise about a child's wellbeing or safety.
 "We developed an operational chart where everyone can quickly see what can be done in the case of children travelling abroad, perhaps not in their best interests," she added.
 She noted that the guidelines will be directed toward all adults working with children, but will also be shared with children and teens as well as their families.
 "So if a child is to travel [it tells] what they can do if they feel it’s not in their best interests," the specialist explained.
 Boys and girls sent abroad
 Silvennoinen said that it is common for older teens to be sent to their parents’ homelands to learn the culture and to spend time with relatives for a year or two. However she claimed that the purpose of such trips could also be child marriages.
 "If it’s known that [children could face] circumcision or a forced marriage, then people should intervene. These things are crimes in Finnish law, but of course they do not fall within the city’s jurisdiction," she noted.
 The city worker said that boys as well as girls are sent abroad and added that the focus of the initiative is children who travel abroad without their parents.
 "However families travel overseas on vacation so it is difficult to comment on that but if children are sent abroad for several years without their parents, then there might be something else to it," Silvennoinen concluded.

Helsinki preps schools, NGOs to spot FGM, forced marriage trips


Summary: Coverage of Putin’s visit was plentiful, but there was also space for other stories.

Vladimir Putin  arrives in Finland on Wednesday off the back of protests in Moscow over candidates for upcoming local elections, possibly  radioactive fallout  from a new cruise missile and  a meeting  with French President Emmanuel Macron this week at which the two compared notes on domestic protests.
 Putin’s summer visit to Finland has become something of a tradition, with the Russian leader heading west each year since 2016. In 2018 he even  met US President Donald Trump in Helsinki .
 Finland is rarely on the world stage, and so Ilta-Sanomat  basks  in the spotlight in an editorial replete with potshots at those who criticised Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  for meeting Putin in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. IS singles out Sweden for special mention, noting with satisfaction that Sweden and the other Nordics have ‘followed Niinistö’s example’ and met Putin anyway when the Nordic prime ministers assembled in Moscow this spring.
 Iltalehti goes for  a recap  of previous meetings, warning Niinistö of the Putin propensity to surprise. Helsingin Sanomat  has  an analysis piece that outlines in some depth the countries' relations and motivations, concluding that relations are ‘as good as they could be nowadays’.
 Running through the IS and HS pieces is the fact that Finland has always wanted to keep a line open to Moscow, as discussions with Russian leaders are important in achieving diplomatic goals. IS recalls that Niinistö told Sweden’s then-Foreign Minister  Karin Enström  in 2016 that Finland has a longer border with Russia than all other EU countries combined. So the consensus it is important to stay on good terms with the neighbours.
 Refugee polling
 Agrarian paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus  publishes  a poll that suggests opinion is split on whether Finland should take in refugees attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. The poll suggests that 47 percent said Finland should not accept such refugees, 37 percent said it should, while 16 percent declined to offer an opinion.
 The paper reports this as ‘nearly half oppose’ taking in refugees, and also divides the poll by party support to state that supporters of the Centre Party and Finns Party are most opposed to accepting these migrants.
 Over the summer Finland  said  it would accept 13 asylum seekers rescued from the Meditarranean. Parliament’s Grand Committee, which sets the parameters of Finnish EU policy, made clear this was a one-off gesture and not a policy shift--so the issue is likely to return to the political agenda soon.
 Marin’s four-day week
 Should Finland look at cutting working hours? That’s the debate started by Transport and Communications Minister  Sanna Marin , who suggested that four days a week or six hours a day might be more appropriate than the current 40-hour week most workers perform.
 The Social Democrat’s idea did not get a warm reception from those on the right of Finnish politics or employers’ organisations. The  Juha Sipilä  government had pushed through an increase in working hours across the economy in order to improve competitiveness in export industries, so some commentators are asking whether this is a step backwards.
 That’s what Kauppalehti  thinks , asking if Finnish working life is so terrible after all. “A six-hour day is too much if every minute is full of anguish,” suggests the paper’s op-ed. Iltalehti, meanwhile,  takes  a more positive if slightly condescending view: Marin is right that technology could well reduce the number of working hours people perform, but 'completely wrong' in thinking this is something central government or labour organisations can mandate.
 That line, that Finland must change its tripartite labour negotiation system and move towards local pay bargaining, is a key talking point for employers’ organisations and one that may become more prominent now the union-backed SDP and Left Alliance are in government.

Wednesday’s papers: Russia, Mediterranean migrants and a shorter working week


Summary: All groups except the Finns Party say stricter ID rules should also be brought in sooner.

Kasinot, uhkapelit ja rahapeli- ja vedonlyöntipalvelut

Finland's political parties are amenable to tighter restrictions on slot machines and gambling, according to a survey of political parties by Yle.
 The parties responded to a brief Yle survey on Wednesday after weeks of talks and  controversy over the ethics  of gambling monopoly Veikkaus' advertising practices.
 Some restrictions are already on the way, while a citizens initiative is also looking to slash the number of slot machines Veikkaus operates and restrict their locations.
 By 2022 gamblers in Finland will be required by law to digitally identify themselves to prove they are over 18 before accessing gambling services and slot machines. All parties except the populist Finns Party told Yle that they would be prepared to move that date forward in order to better monitor underage gaming.
 Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering  Sirpa Paatero  from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said she would be working to advance the identification timetable with Veikkaus this autumn.
 "I'll be meeting with Veikkaus earlier than originally planned," Paatero said. "We need to figure out how to technically implement this ID reform."
 Veikkaus estimated that bringing in the new ID rule in 2022 would mean the monopoly would see losses of anywhere between 17 million and 170 million euros. At the same time, however, costs from addiction and problem gaming would decrease.
 Gambling in Finland is a closed shop, with only Veikkaus officially allowed to operate and all Veikkaus profits used to fund culture, sports and social policy. That means politicians are both in charge of regulating Veikkaus and dependent on it for revenue to fund government spending.
 Removal from shops
 Yle asked parties whether gambling machines should be removed entirely from shops and kiosks and moved into dedicated arcades, as a  popular citizens' initiative  with more than  28,000 signatures  is fighting for.
 Of the official parties the Green Party, Left Alliance and Christian Democrats said they would support a ban on gambling machines in any spaces other than specified gaming halls. Unregistered political group Movement Now also answered that they would be for a public ban.
 Green Party chair and Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  stuck to her hard line, saying that arcade gaming would be enough for non-addicted enthusiasts.
 "Designating a certain facility for these games would most likely bring problematic playing habits down. Monitoring age limits and preventing severe drawbacks would be more effective," Ohisalo said.
 How many is too many?
 The Finnish government allows gambling monopoly Veikkaus to operate a maximum of 18,600 slot machines nationwide. The current number of machines is just 100 units below that.
 Five of the registered political parties – namely the SDP, Centre Party, Finns Party, National Coalition Party (NCP) and the Swedish People's Party – declined to comment on the appropriate number of machines.
 Many politicians and citizens are calling for the removal of gambling machines from shops. Marja Väänänen / Yle
 NCP chair  Petteri Orpo  said he would leave the number of gambling units to be determined by Veikkaus; but the Left Alliance holds a stricter stance.
 "Studies show that low-income earners play these games the most, and lose the most money," said Left parliamentary group chair  Paavo Arhinmäki . "We have to seriously consider reducing the number of these games and where they should be placed."
 Harry Harkimo  from Movement Now said the correct amount of machines would be however many can be realistically monitored within designated Veikkaus gaming halls.
 Panic button, user-specific limits
 One feature of the identification process is that players can set a maximum game limit, such as how many minutes or euros he or she is allowed to spend at the slots per day or month.
 Veikkaus online gambling now includes a prominent red "panic button" that players can press if they feel they cannot stop on their own. After the button is clicked, the game will no longer respond.
 Veikkaus promised in mid-August  to establish an ethics board  to control problem gaming.
 Elderly gamblers studied
 The Turku University Hospital announced that it is researching the brains of elderly gamblers. Pension-age women are one of the main problem gambling demographics, along with young adult men.
 The university study aims to develop a new medication that could help treat gambling addiction along with talk therapy.
 The challenge in medicating a gaming addiction is that the active ingredients need to be isolated from the brain's reward system, the university said.
 Statistics from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) show that one in five people in Finland knows someone in their close contacts who gambles too much on Veikkaus machines.

Parties open to tighter restrictions on slot machines


Summary: The funding can be used to hire teachers, counsellors and special assistants to help develop kids' media literacy skills.

The Ministry of Education and Culture has launched a special funding programme to help protect young people against online predators. The initiative will see the ministry provide up to one million euros for primary and pre-schools for media literacy training for their youngsters.
 The ministry said that it hopes the funding will be used to support programmes that train children to operate safely and prudently online, and specifically to examine the terms of use and privacy settings of different services.
 "Online predation and abuse is a worrying trend that must be fought decisively. It is the responsibility of us adults to offer children and young adults enough support and information so they can operate safely in social media and elsewhere online," Education Minister  Li Andersson  said in a statement.
 Schools can use the funding for purposes such as hiring teachers, teaching assistants and counsellors. At the end of 2018, police in Oulu  had warned of online predators  follow reports of a series of child sexual abuse allegations.

Up to €1m for schools to combat online child predation


Summary: The UK government has said that it wants officials to focus on Brexit preparations.

UK officials announced on Tuesday that starting 1 September, Britain will no longer send representatives to most EU meetings, effectively halving the country's representation at EU forums.
 The UK government said in a letter to EU diplomats that it will hand over its vote to Finland, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
 "The UK government remains committed to the duty of sincere cooperation and will not stand in the way of the conduct of EU business during this time,"  the Guardian reported  the letter as saying.
 "We are very grateful to you as presidency [sic] for agreeing to exercise our vote, if necessary, at meetings which we do not attend," it continued.
 Focus on meetings with national significance
 According to the announcement by the UK government, the country will only participate in meetings that have national significance, including issues relating to Brexit, internal government, international relations, security and the economy, a spokesperson told The Guardian.
 "From now on we will only go to the meetings that really matter, reducing attendance by over half and saving hundreds of hours. This will free up time for ministers and their officials to get on with preparing for our departure on 31 October and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead," said Brexit minister  Steve Barclay .
 Opposition lawmakers responded against the decision by declaring that it would leave the UK in the dark with respect to many important matters.
 "How do you know if important things are discussed if you are not there? Whilst we are still full members all decisions will affect us, from fishing quotas to digital markets," Liberal Democratic MEP  Catherine Bearder  told the paper.
 Finland to honour UK's wishes
 Johannes Leppo , senior ministerial adviser for legislative affairs in the Prime Minister's office, confirmed to Yle that the government had received the letter from the UK and that Finland intended to conform to its wishes.
 Leppo described the procedure as compliant with EU rules, which he said did not require any special formalities and is widely used. Finland cannot use the UK's voting right to adopt a position that runs counter to the UK's wishes. The UK can notify Finland of its position on issues on a case by case basis.
 He explained that it was not unusual for a country's minister to be unable to participate in an EU meeting or to have to leave before it ends. In such cases the country in question may notify the meeting chair of its position on an issue in advance and to have this stance noted in the decision-making.
 In addition EU member states' postures on various issues are often known in advance or permanent representatives in Brussels often agree on specific questions in advance of formal meetings.
 "So in meetings they do not always formally vote by 'pressing a button'," Leppo explained.
 Loss of influence for UK
 Leppo pointed out that if an important and potentially divisive matter arising in a meeting seems probable, a UK representative will likely show up to participate in the discussion.
 In practice, as holder of the rotating EU Council presidency, Finland will, if needed, indicate the UK's position on specific issues.
 However the current UK decision to cede its vote to Finland puts Finland in the position of 'representing' the departing member state.
 Ultimately, by skipping EU meetings, the UK will lose the right to speak out. Sidebar meetings in particular involve a great deal of debate and discussion in which the contents of draft resolutions may be heavily edited – something that the UK will no longer be able to influence.
 On Tuesday, the EU rejected  an attempt by the UK government to re-open the existing Brexit agreement  by re-negotiating the backstop issue.

Finland to use UK vote as Britain pulls out of EU meetings


Summary: From September passengers will need a payment card to buy tickets from conductors or ticket machines on long-distance trains.

Finnish state railway firm VR is to end cash sales of tickets on long-distance services. The company says ticket machines and conductors will from 1 September only accept cards or contactless payments.
 In addition to VR's  online shop , mobile app and ticket machines, tickets can also be purchased in advance from VR service points, Matkahuolto branches and any R-Kioski outlet.
 According to VR some 99 percent of passengers already buy their tickets in advance or using a payment card on the train.
 "If a passenger gets on a train after 1 September without a ticket or possibility to pay by card, the situation will be assessed on a case-by-case basis," said Julia Stolp of VR via email.
 "Our conductors cannot fine passengers, but they can remove travellers with no ticket from the train."
 Stolp stressed, however, that the conductor is required to ensure the welfare of any passengers removed from the train and would not take this action against unaccompanied children.

Cash sales to end on Finnish trains