Summary: The two people who found the pups in their fishing nets were said to be very sorry about what had happened.

Two Saimaa ringed seal pups were found dead at the Pihlajavesi lake in southeastern Finland, according to state-owned parks and wildlife management firm Metsähallitus.
 Both of the pups had drowned in fishing nets, Metsähallitus biologist  Jouni Koskela  said, right after an  annual ban on the use of nets had ended . This fishing net ban ended on the same day the first pup was found, 1 July.
 He said that the pup found on Monday was a female and born last winter, while the other one was male and discovered Tuesday.
 Pihlajavesi is the second-largest body of water in the Saimaa lake system - home to one of the world's most endangered and rarest subspecies, the Saimaa ringed seal.
 The two individuals who were collecting their nets from the lake had notified authorities on their own, Koskela said.
 He told news service STT that both of them were very sorry for what had happened.
 "Neither of them thought that a seal could get stuck in their nets," Koskela told STT.
 "Fishing with nets is permitted in July, but people are asked to avoid using them around known seal nesting areas," Koskela explained.
 Population gradually growing
 Several decades ago the ringed seal population dropped to as few as 100, but thanks to conservation efforts - including the springtime ban on fishing nets - their numbers have grown to an estimated 400.
 Despite the recent deaths, Koskela said that the ringed seal population appears to be growing in Pihlajavesi lake, saying that it is one of the few areas in which more seal pups were born than in previous years.
 Around 80-90 pups are estimated to be born in the region every year but the biologist said that 60 of the young seals die annually, as well. In recent times Metsähallitus regularly receives notice of just over 30 dead seals per year.
 "It's estimated that we're notified of about 40 percent of ringed seal deaths," Koskela explained.
 During the spring Metsähallitus counted a total of 67 live pups, which is less than in recent years, but  weak ice conditions  on the lake prevented a proper count being carried out.
 Koskela said very few pups perished this season, saying that the  large amount of snow cover  this past winter provided excellent nesting conditions.

Saimaa ringed seal pups drown in nets after fishing ban lifted


Summary: Some Finnish online retailers may be unprepared for the online payment directive PSD2, which is rolling out this autumn.

The EU's so-called PSD2 directive, which aims to tighten regulations of online payment services across Europe and make them more secure, is slated to go into effect on 14 September.
 Once it rolls out, online retailers and payment companies in Europe will need to strengthen the personal ID authentication of their customers. But the transition could cause headaches for unprepared online stores.
 According to the development manager at the Central Finnish Cooperative Society (SOK),  Mia Laakso , the situation doesn't look good, saying that many small and medium sized firms in Finland are completely unaware of the looming changes.
 "This is one of the biggest changes in the payment sector in a long time," Laakso said.
 After PSD2 goes into effect, online retailers operating in the EU will be required to ensure that the person using the card is authorised to do so.
 In addition to their credit card details, customers will also be required to verify their identity two of three ways: with a PIN code or password; a device-based passkey app; or through the use of fingerprint or facial ID technology.
 "This will definitely affect customers"
 But it's not only smaller companies that are faced with problems, Laakso added, saying that the technical information required by the directive has not been delivered quick enough.
 "This will definitely affect customers. After the renewal, it's not clear whether all online purchases will go through," she said.
 The director of public policy and advocacy at the Finnish Commerce Federation Commerce lobby group,  Tuula Loikkanen , said the situation is less dire, adding that Finnish online retailers and app-based stores have a good grip on the coming changes.
 At the same time, Loikkanen said that larger online shops were the most prepared.
 The lead expert at financial sector lobby group Finance Finland,  Teija Kaarlela , said there is a danger that European-based online retailers run the risk of losing billions of euros in sales if they do not deploy the right kind of customer identification tools on their sites before September.
 Potential sales at risk
 Kaarlela encouraged Finland-based e-commerce businesses to implement the right identification tools well before the directive goes into effect.
 "You should talk with your payment delivery services provider and make sure you have a solution for rigorous customer authentication in place," she advised.
 If a customer makes an online purchase with a retailer that doesn't have the right authentication tools after PSD2 is in force, the payment will likely not go through, because the bank in question will be required to reject the transfer.

Credit cards inadequate for e-commerce after EU directive goes into force


Summary: Police see a rise in sex offence reports, MPs propose animal welfare investigators, tourists escape the heat in Finland.

Although police officials say overall crime is falling across Europe and Finland, writes tabloid daily Iltalehti,  fresh statistics show an increase  in reports of sexual offences. According to the National Police Board, the rise is likely as much due to a lower threshold for reporting incidents  as it is to rising criminality .
 The Board released criminal data indicating that women were the victims in nine out of 10 of 1,631 rape and coercion cases reported in 2018, around 80 more than the previous year. Moreover, reports of child sexual abuse rose more than other sex crime complaints. Last year there was a total of 2,891 reports of child sex offences, 500 more than in 2017.
 Men account for a minority of victims in reported rape and sexual coercion offences. Last year 182 men came forward as victims, down from just under 200 in 2017. However between January and May this year, men reported 93 rapes. If this trend continues, the number will rise to well over 200 by the end of the year, IL writes.
 The National Police Board noted that the data exclusively represent information police received about suspected crimes and do not reflect the outcome of prosecution or court action.
 Animal welfare coppers coming?
 A total of 31 lawmakers have endorsed a proposal to establish an investigative police unit to focus on animal welfare issues. According to broadsheet daily Turun Sanomat,  MPs behind the measure want an animal welfare cop team  set up in each of the country's 11 mainland police departments.
 The initiative was jointly tabled last week by lawmakers  Mai Kivelä  of the Left Alliance and  Ritva "Kike" Elomaa  of the Finns Party, the paper writes. Elomaa has led the parliament's animal welfare group for part of the last parliamentary term.
 The majority of parliamentarians backing the move are from the Left Alliance and Greens. However three Finns Party MPs have also thrown their weight behind the measure.
 Kivelä said the investigative teams would better position police to tackle animal welfare offences such as illegal pup farming and other forms of animal abuse. Last autumn the  Helsinki police department established a new unit  specialising in animal welfare cases.
 Cool runnings in Finland
 Finland's cooling summer weather may be paying dividends -- at least in the tourism sector,  according to another tabloid daily , Ilta-Sanomat. The paper writes that the recent chill is precisely what some tourists are actively seeking.
 "We chose Helsinki precisely because it's so cool here. It's lovely to just sit around and enjoy the surroundings, listen to people playing music and look at the seagulls," Delhi resident  Puja  told the paper while chilling at downtown Helsinki's Esplanade.
 Daytime highs in Puja's hometown reached 40 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, so the difference compared to damp Helsinki's 15 degrees is significant.
 Other players in the tourism sector have observed a similar trend this year.  Paavo Virkkunen , director of tourism promotion organisation Visit Finland said that  the heatwave currently scorching continental Europe  appears to be driving a spike in demand for cooler climes like Finland. Another operative in the sector, GoSoimaa's  Juha Sorjonen  said he's heard similar sentiments among tour operators.
 Sorjonen pointed out that not all holidaymakers plan trips six months in advance. Many begin thinking about destinations only once their vacation has begun. In addition, cheaper last-minute getaway flights support impulse trips so visitors from Berlin, Milan and parts of Greece can fly via Lappeenranta to Saimaa to escape the continental smelter.

Wednesday's papers: Sex offence stats, animal welfare cops, Finland's cool weather bonus


Summary: Finland fielded two strong contenders to become ECB president -- former EU commissioners Olli Rehn and Erkki Liikanen.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Finland has failed to crown its  six-month presidency of the European Union Council  by securing any of the top EU posts up for grabs in Brussels.
 However in a major break with tradition, women made major strides and secured the backing of EU heads to lead the traditionally male-dominated positions of head of the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB).
 Finland had  two strong contenders in the running  for the position of ECB president -- former European Commissioners  Olli Rehn  and  Erkki Liikanen .
 After three days of wrangling during a summit in Brussels however, French head of the International Monetary Fund  Christine Lagarde  was selected to take over from  Mario Draghi  to lead the financial institution -- the first woman to do so if her nomination is confirmed by the European Parliament.
 Story continues after photo.
 If confirmed, Ursula Von der Leyen will become the first woman to lead the European commission. Hayoung Jeon/Epa
 Similarly, German defence minister and a member of Chancellor  Angela Merkel 's Christian Democratic Union,  Ursula von der Leyen , emerged as president-designate of the European commission, the EU's executive branch.
 Prime minister  Antti Rinne  said that Finland had actively campaigned on behalf of Rehn and Liikanen in bilateral discussions during the meetings.
 "It just didn't work out with this lineup," Rinne commented after the summit, adding that Finland could not have done more to advance its candidates.
 "Perfect gender balance"
 Other key positions filled following the protracted negotiations included that of Spanish socialist foreign minister  Josep Borrell , who was appointed EU foreign and security policy chief. Meanwhile Belgian prime minister  Charles Michel  was nominated to become head of the European Council.
 Outgoing European Council chair  Donald Tusk  hailed "the perfect gender balance" of the outcome and said that current EU Commissioners  Margrethe Vestager  and  Frans Timmermans  would become EU commission vice presidents.
 "I'm very pleased with the balance between men and women found in this meeting. It's the first time a woman will become president of the commission," Rinne remarked.
 The final lineup of nominations for the top jobs in the EU was remarkable in that it did not include many of the favourites up for consideration.
 Even before EU Parliament elections in May, EU parties named candidates for the leadership positions. Based on the outcome of the Europarliament elections,  Manfred Weber , the candidate put forward by largest parliamentary group, the European People's Party (EPP), should have become commission president. However Weber withdrew his candidacy in the final stages of the summit in support of Von der Leyen.
 MEPs have final say
 Members of the European Parliament will vote to elect a new president on Wednesday. They will also confirm Von der Leyen's nomination. It may not be smooth sailing though as the election injected into the body a number of populists eager to shake things up.
 Von der Leyen has been German defence minister since 2013 and was previously responsible for labour, social affairs, family, women's and youth affairs portfolios. Apart from her native German, she is also fluent in French and English.
 Lagarde meanwhile is by training a lawyer specialising in competition and labour markets. She is a former French finance minister and was the first woman to head up the IMF when she took over from her scandal-plagued predecessor  Dominique Strauss-Khan , who resigned over allegations of sexual impropriety and assault.

Finland misses out on top EU posts as women make breakthroughs


Summary: Report finds human rights abuses in the production of ice cream ingredients sold in Finland.

There is evidence of human rights abuses in the production process of certain raw ingredients that are ultimately used to make ice cream in Finland, according to corporate responsibility watchdog Finnwatch.
 These abuses include the use of forced labour in the procurement of sugar in Brazil, as well as low wages and child labour associated with the production of vanilla in Madagascar.
 Other ice cream ingredients with potentially unethical production backgrounds include palm oil, cocoa and tropical fruits.
 Finnwatch surveyed seven ice cream manufacturers in Finland, and discovered that some of them do not have full oversight over their production chains, nor do all of the companies place social responsibility obligations on their suppliers.
 The companies that responded to Finnwatch's survey were Valio, Fazer (which includes both the Fazer and Yosa brands), Froneri Finland, (producer of the  Pingviini  or Penguin brand), Danone (the Alpro ice cream producer), as well as Jymy, Kolme Kaveria and Oatly.
 There were a number of ice cream brands operating in Finland that did not respond to Finnwatch's survey, including General Mills, which represents Häegen-Dazs in Finland, and Unilever, which owns the Ben & Jerry's and Ingman brands. Both companies cited timetable pressures as the reason for their lack of response, Finnwatch said.
 The Finnwatch survey concentrated on ice-cream sold in Finland in half-litre containers.
 Shortcomings in accountability
 Two of the seven companies that responded to the survey, Froneri Finland and Valio, admitted that control over the production chain only extended as far as their first-tier suppliers.
 In general, Finnish manufacturers rely on direct suppliers to address any human rights issues relating to the production process, and do not consistently demand accountability for the potential human rights risks in the production of raw materials.
 Four of the companies, Danone, Fazer, Jymy and Oatly, did exert more control over the raw materials production process, but Finnwatch's assessment however found that supervision was not always comprehensive.
 Kolme Kaveria and Jymy revealed that they did not impose any social responsibility obligations on their suppliers, even though both companies reported choosing their suppliers based on factors related to ethics and social responsibility.
 However, both Kolme Kaveria and Jymy provided Finnwatch with comprehensive information on the origin of the potentially risky raw materials in their supply chains.
 Scarce information available on thickening agents
 Of the seven companies, only Valio and Froneri Finland identified thickening agents used in the manufacture of ice cream as having potential human rights issues in the production process.
 Thickening agents are used to increase the density of food without altering its taste.
 According to Finnwatch, the production of these thickening agents may also involve significant human rights abuses.

Finnwatch: Are you sure you’re eating ethical ice cream?


Summary: The situation would be completely different if the Finnish nationals returned on their own, a ministry official said.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Officials at the Social Affairs and Health Ministry (STM) say that it would not be easy to bring children currently living in Syria's al-Hol refugee camp to Finland without their mothers.
 Yle has reported that  there are currently 33 women and 11 children  residing at the camps. The women are allegedly the wives of Finns who went to fight among the ranks of the terrorist organisation Isis.
 The ministry also noted that another challenge to overcome is the fact that it is not clear that there are any authorities in charge at the camp.
 "The interior and foreign ministries probably know, but I at least have not been able to tell with whom to negotiate," said  Tuija Kumpulainen , a division head with the social affairs and health ministry.
 According to the ministry official, not knowing whom to deal with makes taking the children into care difficult if not impossible. There are no easy official avenues for removing the children from their mothers' care, as that would require action by child protection authorities.
 "In other parts of the world we would negotiate with the country in question. We have [encountered] many different situations where children are moved from one country to another. But this is not that [kind of] cooperation partner," Kumpulainen explained.
 The ministry official speculated on how the mothers would react if they could say.
 "If we had contact with the mothers, how many of them would be willing to get their children out of the camp while staying behind. As a mother myself, that's what I would consider," she added.
 Investigations into camp conditions continue
 During parliamentary question time last Thursday, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  said that the government has no plans to evacuate its nationals from the al-Hol camp or to provide consular trips to Finland.
 "During question time, ministers pointed out that although repatriation from the camps is not possible at this time, we continue to review the situation and maintain contacts with other countries. In particular, an analysis of the camp situation is focusing on ensuring the children's best interests," foreign ministry consular chief  Antti Putkonen  explained.
 "A similar discussion to the one in Finland is ongoing in many European countries," he added. However he did not elaborate on concrete steps to be taken based on the ongoing analyses.
 Health ministry ready to act
 Meanwhile the social affairs and health ministry said it has examined the situation from a legal and child welfare perspective as well as its ability to take action overseas. It has highlighted issues relating to children's rights, such as the concept of family and the child's right to belong to a family.
 "We have mostly examined the law to see what is legal and illegal and what is desirable. We have also considered the possible reality of relocation," Kumpulainen commented.
 The ministry has also tried to determine the health status of Finnish residents at the camp, the possibility of infection and whether or not there's a need for urgent health care.
 "If we know the conditions they come from, we will be able to figure out what kinds of checks are needed and what to do with the results," Kumpulainen explained, adding that the ministry will be prepared to act if the families are brought to Finland
 Finland can't prevent independent returns
 The health ministry official said that the situation would be completely different if Finns resident at al-Hol managed to return home themselves. In such a situation, she said that health officials would be able to evaluate arrivals, regardless of which country they came from.
 "My impression is that it's not possible to leave freely. But if they could and the camp opened its doors, then in that situation a Finnish citizen would have the right to return. That cannot be prevented," she concluded.
 In terms of how repatriations from the camp would take place in practice, Putkonen told Yle in a message that the ministry could not provide any details.

Ministry: Officials need mothers' permission to retrieve kids in Syrian Al-Hol camp


Summary: The USS Mount Whitney will not be open to visits from the public during the three day visit.

The United States Navy's command ship the USS Mount Whitney began a three day visit to Helsinki harbour on Wednesday.
 The 189 metre-long craft is the first of two Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ships as well as a Nato command ship and its commanding officer is  Cassidy Norman .
 The host of the visit is Commander  Ilja Hakanpää , who is also the Finnish Navy's chief of staff. Finland is  not a member of Nato  but joined the military alliance's Partnership for Peace in 1994 and entered a three-year agreement in 2017 to continue as an Enhanced Opportunity Partner.
 The command vessel will not be open to the public while it is in port off the Helsinki district of Hernesaari and the visit is set to end on 6 July.
 USS Mount Whitney served as a Nato command ship during the Libyan Civil War of 2011, when the military alliance prevented President Muammar Gaddafi's troops from attacking a rebel stronghold in Benghazi.
 According to Estonian public broadcaster ERR, the Mount Whitney stopped at Muuga Harbour, the country's biggest cargo port, at the end of last month after it served as the command vessel during Nato Baltops 2019 exercises, in which Finland also participated. Estonia has been an active Nato member since 2004.

Nato command ship visits Helsinki


Summary: Two e-scooter firms operating in Finland have rather different strategies when it comes to big festivals.

Hundreds of e-scooters owned and operated by electric vehicle rental firm Voi Technology will be taken off the streets of Turku and put into storage when the city hosts the annual Ruisrock music festival this weekend.
 The company said that it wants to avoid the possibilty of accidental injuries during the sold out, three-day festival.
 Ruisrock is Finland's oldest rock music festival and in its 50th year. The event is expected to draw more than 100,000 people this weekend.
 "We want to safeguard the safety of Turku's residents. We have noticed that misuse of the scooters increases during events like large festivals. That's why we think the right thing to do is to take the electric scooters during Ruisrock," Voi's marketing chief  Mathias Soini  said.
 Voi has been known to take their scooters off city streets during festivals and events, most recently during the May Day holiday. The company plans to remove all of its scooters from Turku streets on Thursday evening and return them on Monday morning.
 Scooters in Tampere available
 However, rentable scooters offered by scooter firm Tier will remain on streets of the central city of Tampere during events like Tammerfest, held in mid July and Blockfest, in August.
 Tier also offers rentals of its electric scooters in Helsinki, but is not yet operational in Turku.
 The company said that it works with festival organisers to provide rentals to attendees who may have parked their cars or otherwise need a quick ride to and from venues.

Rent-a-scooters put in storage in Turku but stay on Tampere streets during music festivals


Summary: Tour operators report a rise in site traffic as Finns scour the internet for good travel deals to sunnier climes.

As southern Europeans  beat a path to cool Finland  to escape torrid conditions, Finnish residents are eyeing southern climes to get a piece of real summer action.
 Tour operators like Aurinkomatkat, Tjäreborg and ebookers said that they are seeing increased online traffic that is translating into a distinct spike in bookings.
 "People began looking for trips abroad as soon as the weather turned wet. For example now that it's raining in Helsinki online traffic has doubled," said Aurinkomatkat chief executive  Timo Kousa .
 Ebookers marketing chief  Claudia Parker  said by email that online visitors from Finland increased 25 percent last week.
 Many travel options still available
 Because of the  promising start  to the summer this year and  last summer's warm conditions , many vacationers have waited until the last minute to book trips abroad.
 People intent on enjoying summer in the sun are snapping up remaining package tours and only isolated single seats will be available next week. However tourism firms expect demand to simmer down by mid-July and August.
 "From the customer's perspective the situation still looks good and there are still a few trips left. So they can get very affordable bookings on very short notice," Kousa noted.
 Tjäreborg product manager  Jessica Virtanen  pointed out that although charter flights may be selling out, indecisive buyers still have other options, such as regular scheduled flights and their own tailor-made packages.
 So far, Finns have favoured the Greek islands, but other holiday hotspots include Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria and Spain. Tour operators also said that Italy is increasingly becoming a tourist magnet for Finns.

Finns fly to sun-drenched south in bid to salvage summer


Summary: An investment of five million euros by the Ministry of Education and Culture will be distributed to schools in 2020.

The Ministry of Education and Culture plans to invest five million euros towards the creation of nearly 200 new student nursing places for the 2020-21 academic year, the ministry announced in a press release on Wednesday.
 The temporary funding will be granted to 15 polytechnic institutions around Finland and will be distributed based on the labour needs in each region.
 "The availability of a skilled workforce is central to providing the access to and quality of social and health care services. In order to guarantee these services, we need to ensure that a sufficient number of students in the field are being trained in different parts of Finland," said  Annika Saarikko , the new Minister of Science and Culture.
 "In particular, services provided to the elderly require highly skilled people. There is still a need for further training," Saarikko added.

Ministry's cash injection creates 200 new nursing study places


Summary: Finnish MEPs remain seated during EU anthem, plastic pollutes Finnish rivers, and dolls distract motorists near Tampere.

Main daily Helsingin Sanomat reports  on the decision by Finns Party MEPs   Laura Huhtasaari  and  Teuvo Hakkarainen  to remain seated during the playing of  Ludwig van Beethoven’s  melody  Ode to Joy , the EU’s anthem, during the opening session of the new parliament. The custom among parliamentarians is to stand when the song is played.
 "This was our way of taking a stand. In our opinion, the anthem is a federal element, and because we are opposed to the federal state, this was our statement," the paper quotes Huhtasaari as saying.
 HS also reports that Hakkarainen admits to liking the song, and even listens to it occasionally on the music streaming service Spotify, but the newly-elected MEP from Central Finland told the paper that "I have my own national anthem, and I rise and cry in front of it."
 EU leaders adopted Ode to Joy as an official anthem in 1985, and the EU website explains that the purpose of the "European anthem is not intended to replace the national anthems of the EU countries but rather to celebrate the values they share."
 "Really sad sight"
 Oulu-based newspaper Kaleva carries  a report about a fisherman who found a salmon strangled by a piece of plastic  in the Tornio river.
 The paper quotes  Kari Pulkkinen , research head at the Natural Resources Centre, describing the likely journey of the fish from the Baltic Sea to the Tornio River, and becoming entangled in the plastic along the way.
 "The fish travelled a long distance to get to the river, but in that condition it would have become exhausted, and eventually died," Pulkkinen told the newspaper.
 According to the Finnish Environment Institute, plastic is becoming particularly problematic in Finnish nature, as durable plastic breaks up into smaller pieces and ends up in the diet of birds, fish and other animals.
 Dolls distract drivers
 Tabloid daily Iltalehti reports on  a roadside advertisement that is catching the attention of motorists  on the outskirts of the southern city of Tampere.
 The paper details how confused drivers cannot tell if the figures that appear to be assembling the roadside billboard are real people or not, until reduced speed and closer inspection reveals the 'workers' to be dolls wearing wigs and overalls.
 The tabloid interrupted the holiday of  Heikki Ikonen , the Director of the Road Planning Unit of the Pirkanmaa Ely Centre, to ask him for his opinion.
 "Sounds strange," Ikonen told the newspaper. "I wonder if that ad has been authorised."
 The tabloid also spoke to an elderly man walking his dog in the vicinity of the billboard.
 "I think many motorists are paying too much attention to them. They are scary," the unnamed man told Iltalehti.

Thursday’s papers: Finns Party's anti-EU protest, plastic kills fish, and scary roadside ads


Summary: PM Antti Rinne’s SDP posted the poll's biggest losses after the release of its four-year government programme.

A fresh Yle party approval survey conducted by pollster Taloustutkimus has shown declining support for the Social Democratic Party led by Prime Minister  Antti Rinne . Backing for the party declined by 1.3 percentage points to 16.1 percent after  the new SDP-led administration publicised its four-year government programme  at the beginning of June.
 That level of voter support places the SDP in third position behind the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party, which appear to be already reaping the benefits of being in opposition.
 The nationalist Finns Party remains the country’s most popular political force with 19.7 percent voter backing, while the NCP has 16.8 percent – the parties are separated by nearly three percentage points, still well within the poll’s margin of error of +/- 1.9 percentage points.
 Taloustutkimus research director  Tuomo Turja  said that the Finns Party is clearly the most popular group among workers, but is also faring well among entrepreneurs.
 "The Finns Party is gaining on the National Coalition Party as the largest business [–friendly] party," Turja commented.
 Challenges to coalition cooperation
 Government parties occupy rankings from fourth to seventh place in the survey. The Greens remain stable in fourth place with 14.3 percent backing. However there appears to be no reprieve for the Centre, led by interim chair  Juha Sipilä , which has seen voter approval erode from one poll to another.
 The latest Yle survey puts support for the party at just 11.7 percent, down slightly by 0.7 percentage points from a previous barometer. It is a record low for the party that once held the reins of government.
 According to Turja’s reading of the numbers, the Finns Party in particular has gobbled up support from the limping Centre. At the same time many Centre backers are undecided about where to pitch their tents.
 "Many that voted Centre in the recent parliamentary election cannot say at this time which party they support. It seems that the Centre’s participation in government has to some extent confused their support base," Turja said.
 During government formation talks, the Centre and the Greens appeared to be on opposite sides of the fence on a number of issues,  such as immigration policy . The pollster speculated that the Greens’ continued expansion is likely to challenge cooperation between the two parties.
 The agrarian-background Centre is now  looking ahead to leadership elections  in September in the hope that a new chair will help revive the party’s fortunes in voter polls. The frontrunners in that contest are currently Economic Affairs Minister  Katri Kulmuni  and Defence Minister  Antti Kaikkonen .
 Left Alliance chipping away at SDP support
 Another junior government partner, the Left Alliance, posted the biggest gains in this poll to record 8.8 percent voter backing, an increase of one percentage point on the last poll.
 Turja said that the Left Alliance has managed to attract support from the groups of voters who appear to have soured on the SDP.
 "I interpret this as inter-governmental [movement]. Some of voters choosing between the SDP and Left Alliance have opted for the Left Alliance this time," he pointed out.
 In spite of slight changes in the level of support for the five government coalition parties, overall support for the bloc remains largely the same as during the general election. Total voter backing for the administration now stands at 55.5 percent, compared to 55.7 percent gathered during the election.
 Taloustutkimus interviewed nearly 2,500 voters between 5 June and 2 July for the poll.
 Yle’s political barometer will take a break during the summer vacation and will return during the autumn parliamentary term, when voters will likely be evaluating the performance of both the government and the opposition.

Yle poll: Support for Centre sinks to record low as Finns Party backing grows


Summary: Human trafficking scandal influences Thai decision, as this summer's first wave of seasonal workers arrives in Finland.

Authorities in Thailand have limited the number of Thai citizens who can apply for visas to work as berry pickers in Finland this summer, despite a request from Finland's Ministry of Employment and the Economy for additional workers.
 The total number of applications allowed this year by Thai officials will be approximately 2,400,  a figure slightly down on last year's 2,500 , and a significant reduction from the 3,500 visas issued in 2017. 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.
 Olli Sorainen , the Ministry of Employment and the Economy's Executive Counselor, confirmed to Yle that his department was unable to negotiate additional visas with Thai officials.
 First pickers arrive in Lapland
 The first group of Thai berry pickers, numbering approximately 600, will arrive in Lapland next week to start their temporary contracts with the Rovaniemi-based wild food company Polarica Marja. The company also operates in Sweden, where they will have about 1,200 Thai pickers working there over the summer months.
 The visa wrangle has left Polarica Marja with fewer workers than they wanted in Finnish Lapland.
 "The need in Finland would have been for about 800 to 1,000 pickers," the firm's Executive Director  Jukka Kristo  said.
 Story continues after photo
 According to Kristo, the situation is further complicated by the impact the cold early summer has had on berry harvest forecasts in Lapland, and many workers may begin the season by picking bilberries in southern Finland.
 "We will wait until we get a more detailed explanation next week," Kristo added.
 Early predictions from Finland's National Resources Institute LUKE, however, suggest that berries are blossoming abundantly. LUKE estimates that the cloudberry harvest in Lapland can commence in mid-July, with bilberry picking likely to start in late July.

Thai officials hold back on visas for berry pickers


Summary: The main motivation for the project was not initially environmental concerns, but to get people into the great outdoors.

A group of young residents in Helsinki have started what they hope will be a youthful, grass-roots effort to help clean up 130 km of the city's coastline.
 Eeva Puustjärvi  is thecoordinator of an effort dubbed  Satakolkyt  (roughly "One hundred thirty"), which aims to rid the city shoreline of all trash, and encourages residents to join in to help.
 The cleanup progress can be tracked on a map on  the group's website  (in Finnish).
 Those who wish to join in the effort are invited to visit the site and enter the stretch of beach they plan to tidy up. Then, the corresponding markings on the map turn from red to yellow. When the area has been cleaned, volunteers check into the site again, and the marking turns to green.
 The site showed that 10 km of coastline had been cleaned up - and nearly half a million steps had been taken by volunteers - by noon on Thursday.
 Story continues after photo.
 Susa Österlund-Toivonen och Eeva Puustjärvi. Elis Henell
 Susa Österlund-Toivonen , manager of the youth unit for environmental activities at the City of Helsinki, was one of the initiators of the project and said that the idea wasn't actually inspired by concerns about the environment.
 "We wanted to reach out to youth groups in the area and get them to head into the nice nature areas we have here. Cleaning up the beach sounded like an obvious project that would contribute to young people's and the Gulf of Finland's health," Österlund-Toivonen said.
 Puustjärvi, Österlund-Toivonen and about a dozen other young adults spent some time on a recent sunny day on the island district of Lauttasaari, filling bags with trash found along the beach.
 One of the volunteers was  Mia Salomäki , who runs a local summer club for the Finnish Red Cross. She said that the young people in her group came up with the idea of cleaning up beaches themselves.
 Puustjärvi said she hope to give residents a chance to familiarise themselves with the city's beaches, saying that joining in the cleanup effort also offers volunteers an educational and pleasant experience.

Young volunteers in Helsinki aim for 130 km of trash-free coastline


Summary: A Kurdish administration envoy has held talks with Finnish officials and five complaints have been filed over the fate of women and children at the camp.

Conditions at the al-Hol refugee camp in north-eastern Syria are extremely harsh, head of Finnish Red Cross SPR aid operations  Kalle Löövi  told Yle on Thursday.
 Finland has been involved in organising 30 new beds at the camp’s field hospital and SPR aid workers are currently deployed at the facility.
 However Löövi would not disclose whether or not the Finnish aid workers have met any of the 33 Finnish women and 11 children said to be living at al-Hol.
 "Our aid workers work at the hospital. We wouldn’t even discuss whether or not we have had contact with people of specific nationalities. People are at the hospital as patients and they are receiving care," Löövi declared.
 He added that the camp houses people who have been prisoners of the extremist group Isis as well as family members of Isis fighters. In that sense, residents comprise a diverse group of people with different backgrounds. He noted that the majority of people at the camp are Syrians but altogether residents represent more than 60 nationalities.
 Löövi said that it is possible for people to become radicalised in the camp’s grim conditions.
 "If you want them involved in normal society, it would be best if they are in their own communities," he noted.
 Löövi said that the term "Isis camp" that has been widely used in the media to describe al-Hol is incorrect.
 "It is not an Isis camp, but a camp established by Syrian Kurdish regional administrative officials, where they have settled evacuated people," he explained.
 He didn’t say whether or not Finnish citizens at the camp should be repatriated, however he did say that citizens should be removed.
 "All citizens of whatever nationality who did not take part in the war are civilians and they should be removed. It would be wisest to send people to their home countries."
 Half of field hospital patients young children
 Löövi told Yle’s Aamu-tv breakfast television show that a few thousand of the camp’s 70,000 residents have serious injuries, because before being relocated to the camp, they had lived in areas that had been subjected to heavy bombing.
 Patients at the hospital have been receiving treatment for infected wounds, shrapnel injuries and broken bones. Hospital workers have also reported encountering severely traumatised children, the aid worker said.
 Löövi said that the field hospital has so far treated more than 2,000 patients. In addition, there are three mobile health centres that have cared for over 12,000.
 "A quarter of the patients are infants who are in poor shape because of fever and diarrhoea. Altogether half of hospital patients are small children," Löövi added.
 He described conditions at al-Hol as poor, adding that it was designed for fewer residents. In addition to a shortage of medical care, clean water and food are also in short supply and hygiene is inadequate.
 The camp is currently receiving 50,000 litres of clean water daily. The Red Cross is also building toilet facilities and organising food deliveries.
 Finland in talks with Kurdish authorities
 Meanwhile Finnish interior ministry officials are said to have held talks with representatives if Syria’s independent Kurdish administration about Finns at the al-Hol camp.
 The Democratic Union Party, PYD, controls Kurdish areas in Syria.  Salih Muhammad , a member of the party’s leadership recently visited Finland. Muhammad told Yle that he has held discussions with interior and foreign ministry officials.
 "I provided information about the situation in northern Syria. The interior ministry had many questions about Isis. I told what we know and promised to help Finnish officials," Muhammad commented.
 Discussions about al-Hol often centre on what should be done about foreigners guilty of criminal offences. The Kurds support the idea of an international tribunal, with the caveat that people found guilty of committing crimes in the area would also be sentenced there.
 "There is evidence as well as witnesses in the area," Muhammad noted, adding that capital punishment no longer exists in the area.
 Some Isis fighters are currently imprisoned in Kurdish areas. Isis victims claim that many foreign women have had a hand in atrocities perpetrated by the extremist group. Muhammad said that women should also be tried.
 Complaints to Chancellor of Justice
 In another development regarding Finnish Isis fighters’ families in Syria, the office of Finland’s Chancellor of Justice said Thursday that it had received five complaints regarding the government’s position on removing the women and children from al-Hol.
 Three of the grievances condemned Finland for not moving to evacuate the women and children from the camp and called for the authorities to bring them to Finland, adding that the relatives are prepared to foot the bill for evacuating them. However they pointed out that the women and children cannot be removed without assistance from Finnish authorities.
 Two of the filings opposed the possible evacuation of Finnish women and children from the refugee camp, noting that “integration” would be problematic and that their return could foment terrorism.
 The first complaint was submitted at the beginning of June. The Chancellor’s office said it could not speculate on a timetable for resolving the complaints.

NGO warns that harsh Syrian camp conditions "could radicalise"


Summary: The organic food market is growing, but Finland still has some catching up to do with its Nordic neighbours.

Consumers in Finland are increasingly choosing to buy organic produce rather than conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables. According to researchers at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), it is not only deep-pocketed shoppers anymore.
 Not long ago, consumers looked at often pricier organic foods as treats for the wealthy, but Luke said that has changed. Now, consumers at all income levels are increasingly interested in buying organic.
 It is becoming increasingly common for the less well-to-do to buy organically grown product, as consumers across the board are making their decisions based on environmental and quality concerns. Organic foods are grown and raised without using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals.
 The institute monitors the production and sale of foodstuffs in Finland, and said in its annual report that the organic food market is growing quickly in the country as well as around the world.
 Researchers at Luke said that the mindsets of consumers regarding organic food have undergone a transformation of sorts. Now, people increasingly consider organic produce to be healthy, genuine and authentic.
 Still behind Nordic neighbours
 However, despite the recent growth, Finland still has some way to go to catch up with some of its Nordic neighbours in terms of organic food.
 Only 2.4 percent of the foods bought in Finland last year were organically sourced. In Sweden, for example that proportion is 10 percent and 13 percent in Denmark.
 But the Luke researchers said Finland's organic food sector is growing by 10 percent per year.
 The production levels of some organically-raised products have increased significantly in recent years. During the 2000s, the production of organic milk quadrupled, with nearly 70 million litres of it produced last year.
 Around seven percent of the eggs sold in Finland are organic, which represents a triple in production since 2010, while some 13 percent of Finland's farming land area was organically certified last year, according to the institute.

Not only well-to-do choosing organic food


Summary: Up to 200 were at risk of losing their jobs when redundancy talks began in April.

Management consulting giant Accenture Finland said it has ended employer-employee negotiations and that 66 of its workers were leaving the company.
 Sixty-five employees had agreed to leave the company in voluntary arrangements, according to the firm.
 When the company initiated redundancy talks in mid April, it had plans to cut its workforce in the country  by up to 200 .
 At the time the firm said it was downsizing in order to meet a rapidly-changing operating environment.
 Accenture Finland, a branch of the global consulting giant Accenture, has offices in Tampere and Helsinki and employs about 1,200 workers in the country. Worldwide, the firm had about 450,000 employees last year.

Accenture dismisses 66 workers in Finland


Summary: Half of last month's victims had been intoxicated, according to the Finnish Swimming Teaching and Lifesaving Federation.

Twenty people in Finland drowned in June, according to preliminary figures from the Finnish Swimming Teaching and Lifesaving Federation (FSL) - more than twice the number of people who drowned in June of last year.
 FSL attributed the number of drownings to the warmer weather the country briefly experienced last month. The group said that the last time that Finland had seen as many drownings in June was during a heatwave in 2013.
 The group said that far too often, people head onto the water when they're drinking alcohol and don't use life preservers, saying that half of last month's drowning victims had been intoxicated.
 "A large number of these drownings could have been avoided if people used the proper life jackets, took the weather into account and otherwise be aware of the risks of being on the water," FSL communications specialist  Niko Nieminen  said.
 Five of the victims had drowned during the long Midsummer holiday weekend, and at least 15 of all of the victims were male, according to the FSL.
 Nine of the drowning occurred as the victims were swimming, five drowned in boating incidents and one had fallen into the water. The circumstances of the remaining five vicitms remained unclear, the federation said on Thursday.
 According to preliminary statistics, a total of 44 people drowned during the first half of this year.
 In June of last year, nine people drowned and the total number of drowning victims during the first half of 2018 was 28.

Warm weather behind 20 drownings in June


Summary: Ringed seal net deaths prompt new measures, a demonstration to normalise women's bodies and torrents on the way.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry  announced on Thursday  that it would redouble its efforts to protect the endangered Saimaa ringed seal after  reports of dead pups  arose earlier in the week.
 Daily  Aamulehti wrote  that the ministry will establish a new working group in August to step up protection for the animal, which is unique to Finland's Saimaa lake system. The ministry said the group intends to deliver a plan to survey and restrict fishing activities in the ringed seal's habitat by 2021, when the current restriction expires.
 An annual springtime ban on net fishing in the heartland of  the endangered species  begins on 15 April and is lifted on the last day of June. According to AL the corpses of four Saimaa ringed seal pups were found tangled in fishing nets in early July, one week after this year's prohibition ended.
 "This is extremely sad," Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson  Jari Leppä  told AL. "None of us wants to see any more dead pups."
 Ordinary citizens have reacted to the seal deaths by pushing for a year-round ban on the use of fishing nets in seal habitats. In just two days (at time of writing) more than 37,000 people had signed a  citizens' initiative to completely outlaw net fishing  in such regions. Legal reforms introduced in 2011 require Finland's Parliament to consider initiatives with at least 50,000 signatures.
 Bare naked ladies against body shaming
 In other activist news,  tabloid Iltalehti  covers a form of civil protest that is still new to Finland: a bare-chested flash mob of women and men demanding that everyone should have the right to walk around topless in public.
 The prime movers of the first such demonstration in early June,  Säde Vallaren  and  Sandra Marins , announced that the second ever Finnish "boob flash mob" will be organised at the Hietaniemi beach on Saturday.
 Both activists said in IL that the first ever such flash mob at the same location was "empowering, calm, beautiful and sisterly".
 "There was an almost magical atmosphere," said Marins. "It was amazing to see the range of emotions people were experiencing."
 Vallaren said that even though both organisers have received trolling messages and threats, no counter-protesters were to be seen at the beach demo. Police, too, were briefly on site but did not intervene, according to IL.
 The paper also mentions blogger  Emilia Huttunen , who made international headlines by posting a social media photo of herself naked, but with her husband's nipples edited over the image in a bid to bypass the censorship of online platforms.
 Vallaren and Marins said that after Saturday the next flash mob could take place at the Helsinki Central Railway Station, an environment they say may turn out to be very different to the warmth of sandy Hietaniemi. Both said their work to quell the "shock value" of women's bodies has only just begun.
 "We won't stop until people are no longer upset by a woman's naked breasts," they said.
 Finland getting "unlucky" weather
 Beaches in southern Finland will likely stay quite empty over the weekend, as the weather takes a wet and dramatic turn.
 Daily Helsingin Sanomat  wrote that two fronts of warm air will bypass Finland, causing temperature dips and dozens of millimetres of torrential rainfall.
 "Some regions may experience a full month's rain in just this one weekend," Foreca meteorologist  Markus Mäntykangas  told HS.
 He said that such fluctuations are common in Finland's brief summer months. The current cold slump may last for another week, but Mäntykangas said the return of warmer conditions are just a matter of time.
 "People in Finland are unlucky right now. There's time still for sweltering days all the way into September."

Friday's papers: Ministry ups aid for ringed seals, bare-chested flash mob protest, massive rains coming


Summary: The new equipment is to transport intercity passengers from 2024.

Finland's state-owned rail firm VR announced that it will devote some 250 million euros to improving the speed and quality of its trains.
 The new equipment will replace the 34 Sm2 models currently being used in Southern Finland in intercity rail traffic.
 The new trains will run services on the following routes: Helsinki–Kouvola, Helsinki–Tampere, Helsinki–Riihimäki, Riihimäki–Lahti, Lahti–Kouvola and Kouvola–Kotka.
 VR said that their old locomotives have come to the end of their lifespan and no longer fulfill the requirements of modern rail equipment.
 "Moving around in these older units is impeded, for instance people in wheelchairs cannot come aboard on their own," said VR communications chief  Tatu Tuominen . "They also lack air conditioning."
 High speed
 The new trains being purchased will also be far faster than the current engines.
 "The maximum speed of the old intercity trains is 120 km per hour, while other commuter units can go up to 160 km per hour. These new models have a top speed of around 200 km per hour," Tuominen noted.
 As VR sees it, the faster their trains can travel, the longer the journeys can be. The incoming trains may also be double-decker.
 "The upstairs cars could be reserved for working on the go," said Tuominen.
 The company will open bidding for a supplier next year. VR said that the old vehicles will be phased out completely by 2026.
 Tuominen compares VR's grand investment to their other improvements, such as renewing their restaurant cars and Extra Class units; these developments together have cost the former monopoly about 230 million euros in the last few years.
 A proposed rapid rail link between the southern cities of Turku and Helsinki  is one of southern Finland's most crucial transport solutions in terms of both climate change and regional accessibility, according to the country's chambers of commerce.

State rail firm VR invests 250 million in faster trains


Summary: New wind farms are again under construction around Finland after a brief hiatus.

No new wind energy farms have begun operations in Finland since 2017, yet the amount of electricity produced with the wind has risen briskly over the past year, the Uutissuomalainen newspaper group reports on Friday.
 The industry group Finnish Energy says that wind power production rose by almost 30 percent between May 2018 and May this year. That output is set to rise as a number of new wind turbines are currently being built in Finland.
 Production subsidies are only granted to wind farms that began producing electricity by the end of 2017. However wind energy is no longer dependent on subsidies for financially viability.
 "Production costs have dropped so sharply that a lot of wind power capacity is being installed without subsidies," says  Anna Mikkonen , CEO of the Finnish Wind Power Association (FWPA). She points out that some of the turbines that became eligible for subsidies as they were completed by the end of 2017 did not actually get up to full output until sometime last year.
 The trade body's figures show that cumulative installed wind energy capacity has risen from nearly nothing a decade ago to 500 megawatts (MW) in 2013, then surpassing 2,000 MW last year. That is still far behind neighbouring Sweden, which had more than 7,500 MW installed by the end of last year, according to Wind Power Monthly.
 The number of installed turbines has climbed from just over 100 in 2009 to 700 last year. Their average size has also increased steadily, now around 3 MW each. The heaviest concentration of turbines is in North Ostrobothnia in western Finland, which accounts for 42 percent of all capacity. The municipalities of Kalajoki and Raahe are hotbeds of wind power, with nearly 400 MW of capacity between them.
 As of the end of last year, wind power accounted for 6.7 percent of Finland's electricity consumption.
 Climate change brings brisker breezes
 The  Finnish Wind Atlas  site, established by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), notes that average wind speeds in Finland are gradually rising as a result of climate change. Meteorologists and those in the wind power sector agree that the past year has been windier than the year before.
 For instance, in February the weather station at Helsinki Airport recorded average winds of 5.9 metres per second, compared to the long-term average of 4.1 m/s. In June the corresponding figures were 4.9 and 3.8 m/s. The winter months tend to be windier than summer in Finland.
 "When the weather is dominated by low-pressure systems, the average wind speed is normally higher than in high-pressure conditions," explains FMI meteorologist  Niina Niinimäki .
 At the start of this year, the FMI clocked the  highest wind speed ever recorded  in Finland, 32.5 m/s. It was tracked on 2 January at Bogskär, just off the island of Kökar in the maritime province of Åland between mainland Finland and Sweden. That was just under the hurricane level of 33 m/s.
 Sometimes gales can be too much of a good thing for wind turbines. When winds begin to approach 30 m/s, most wind park operators phase turbines out of use in order to prevent damage. However this has rarely been necessary in Finland.

Breezy year boosts wind power output by nearly 30%


Summary: On a visit to Helsinki, the outgoing EU Commission President hailed the Finnish presidency's ambitious climate target.

The six-month Finnish presidency of the Council of the European Union is underway with a visit to Helsinki by members of the European Commission.
 On Friday, they met with Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's cabinet at the House of the Estates, where the five-party coalition government drew up its programme in May.
 Rinne and outgoing European Commission President  Jean-Claude Juncker  then held a  joint press conference . As is traditional, Juncker lavished praise on his hosts.
 "We have good reason to be optimistic when starting the Finnish presidency because Finland has proven itself to be a leader in our Union," he said. "Finland has behaved like a founding member whereas founding members are not always behaving like founding members."
 In 1957, six countries formed the European Economic Community, which became the European Union in 1993. Finland joined along with Sweden and Austria two years later, bringing the EU to a total of 15 members. Juncker recalled visiting Finland 20 years ago when the country first held the EU's rotating presidency. That was followed by a second term in 2006.
 "Europe needs Finland because Finland is experienced, pragmatic, down-to-earth and cool-headed, and that's exactly what we need over the next coming months," said Juncker, less than four months before Britain is scheduled to leave the EU.
 Emissions and 'Isis brides'
 Switching from English to French, Juncker hailed the programme of the Finnish presidency, including its ambitious climate target. He reiterated his support for the Finnish goal of reaching an agreement this year on targeting  EU climate neutrality by 2050 .
 Juncker and Rinne also made general non-committal comments on the messy recent process of selecting nominees for the top EU jobs and the status of Finnish and other EU citizens at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria, where family members of Isis combatants are being held.
 After the press conference, the Commissioners headed to the Presidential Palace for a lunch hosted by President  Sauli Niinistö . The two-day visit's official programme concluded with a session at Parliament. The EU top brass met with the Speakers and the Grand Committee, which oversees EU affairs.
 The Finnish legislature broke up a week earlier for a 10-week summer recess that ends on 4 September.
 The press conference can be viewed on  Yle Areena .

Juncker: Europe needs "cool-headed" Finnish leadership in coming months


Summary: More than 50,000 Finns signed the initiative within a few days.

A citizens' initiative calling for a total ban on fishing nets in habitats used by the endangered Saimaa ringed seal has gathered more than 50,000 certified signatures in just three days. Having met that threshold, the proposal must now be considered by the Finnish Parliament.
 The initiative was set up on Wednesday and proposes a year-round ban on the use of fishing nets in a bid to protect the rare seals, which are unique to the Saimaa lake system.
 Currently a partial ban in the area prohibits the use of fishing nets from mid-April to the end of June. At least four  seal pups have drowned  since  the ban was lifted  last week.
 The ringed seal population dropped to as few as 100 a few decades ago, but thanks to conservation efforts – including the springtime ban on fishing nets – their numbers have rebounded to an estimated 400.
 Some 80-90 pups are born in the Saimaa lake region every year but the biologists estimate that as many as 60 young seals die annually.
 This past spring forest management agency Metsähallitus counted a total of 67 live pups, which is fewer than in recent years, but  weak ice conditions  on the lake prevented a complete population assessment.

Citizens' initiative to ban fishing nets in ringed seal habitats proceeds to Parliament


Summary: Flag carrier Finnair shuttled 1.4 million passengers around the world in June.

The passenger volume of national airline Finnair rose in June by 12.2 percent from the previous year, the company said on Friday.
 Finnair's blue and white planes carried some 1.4 million passengers in June, an all-time record for the carrier. It was established in 1923, making it one of the world's six oldest airlines.
 Passenger figures in the North American region grew by more than 27 percent, by over 13 percent in European traffic, about nine percent in Asia and by five percent domestically.
 Finavia: Flight emissions 4mn tonnes annually
 The historic record comes at a time when  organisations and institutions are encouraging travelers to fly less  and to use less ecologically damaging forms of transportation.
 A study from airport operator Finavia indicated in January that Finland's annual aviation emissions are at about four million tonnes of CO2, compared with the 6.5 million tonnes produced by automobile traffic.
 The report notes that in 2016 Finland's domestic fossil fuel industry produced some 40 million tonnes of CO2; domestic traffic overall produced some 12 million tonnes of CO2; and domestic airplane flights accounted for some 0.2 million tonnes of CO2.

Finnair sets all-time monthly passenger record


Summary: Finnish pizzeria owners have accused an online ordering service of forcing out competitors and abusing the resultant near-monopoly position.

An Yle investigation has found that Pizza Online, a popular online service used by smaller takeaway chains in Finland, has maintained its market position by preventing restaurants from using other services while taking up to 22 percent of the purchase price of each order.
 Many of those in the pizza business say the popular service is vital to their operations, leaving them no option but to pay the hefty commissions.
 “Before Pizza Online we did less work but made more money,” said Helsinki pizzeria owner  Kazim Çekìç .
 Many say they also feel compelled to shell out for prominent placement on the Pizza Online service via a so-called ‘Premium’ subscription, which costs hundreds of euros per month on top to ensure restaurants appear near the top of the Pizza Online listings.
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 Pizza Online offers a choice of local pizza parlours when users add their location.  Pizza-online.fi
 One Vantaa pizzeria owner showed Yle a contract for the Premium service signed this year, stating that the business granted Delivery Hero Finland OY, which owns Pizza Online, exclusive rights for online ordering.
 When Yle put that contract to Delivery Hero Finland, they first denied that they demanded exclusivity and then said the clause was accidentally added to contracts in 2018.
 “We looked into this, and the premium-text contains a mistake on our side,” said the firm’s Marketing Manager,  Nora Särkkä . “Last year we changed the software that supports our sales and customer relations. An old Premium text was fed into the system, and that has gone into the contracts for Premium purchases since then. This has been a mistake, and that practice hasn’t been in force after 2015.”
 That timing is important, because the altered contract was key for the company in getting a complaint to the Finnish Competition regulator thrown out in 2017.
 The complaint was filed by Joensuu pizza entrepreneur  Ali Giray  in 2014, after a period of ramped-up charges from Pizza Online and failed competitors.
 Other delivery services such as Wolt and Foodora do not demand exclusivity, allowing restaurants to take orders from multiple different services to maximise their reach.
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 A pizza can be purchased in most Finnish takeaways for around 8-10 euros. Tuomo Björksten / Yle
 Pizza Online was founded as SLM Finland by  Henrik Bamford  and  Toni Toijanaho  in 2007. Initially it focused on central Uusimaa, signing up pizzerias in Kerava, Järvenpää and Tuusula.
 It expanded quickly, with turnover reaching a million euros in its second year of operation and hitting ten million euros soon after that.
 In 2012 German company Delivery Hero bought the firm and according to most pizzeria owners interviewed by Yle, commissions began to creep up.
 In the beginning Pizza Online took a commission of between 50 and 97 cents per order, with most orders totalling around 20 euros.
 Before the firm was sold that changed to 5-6 percent of the order value, and by 2013 pizza entrepreneur  Nuri Shorsh  told a student researching  his thesis  that commissions were around 13 percent of each order.
 According to figures Yle looked at from various pizzeria owners, an order received via Pizza Online can now entail payments to the firm of between 16 and 22 percent of the price paid by consumers once the ‘Premium’ payments are added in.
 Businesses are contractually obliged to offer the same prices via the service and on their own website, so it is not possible to pass that cost on to customers.
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 Sinan Orhanli (left) often works more than 70 hours in a week.  Tuomo Björksten / Yle
 This spring  Sinan Orhanli , who runs Pizza Time in Vantaa, invited 30 pizzeria owners from the Helsinki region to a meeting with one item on the agenda: freeing themselves from Pizza Online.
 They agreed they would all leave the service at the same time and try to manage without it. So what happened?
 “Nothing,” said Orhanli. “Entrepreneurs feared that others would remain on Pizza Online and one after the other withdrew from the agreement.”
 Pizzeria owners are clearly near the end of their tether, working long hours for relatively little reward.
 “I know full well that Pizza Online membership is voluntary,” continues Orhanli. “But it is difficult to operate without it. I have two employees at work, but I always think that I have three. One is Pizza Online, which takes 2-3,000 euros a month in wages.”
 That kind of commission has a big impact on his business, and his family.
 “I have one day off a week,” said Orhanli. “Otherwise I am at work every day 10am to 10pm, 12-13 hours a day. At home I have a wife and a two-year-old daughter. Every evening she’s asleep when I get home from work.”

Pizza Online ordering service accused of exploitation


Summary: Spurred by care scandals, the cabinet is to hike the minimum nursing quota at old-age institutions to 0.7 per patient.

The centre-left government, sworn in a month ago, says it is moving quickly to improve care at old-age homes. As promised in its  platform released in early June , the cabinet will ask Parliament to require such institutions to have a minimum of 0.7 caregivers per patient on hand around the clock.
 Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services  Krista Kiuru  of the Social Democratic Party said this week that the Act on Care Services for Older People will be revised to this effect by the end of this year.
 That follows a  string of revelations  earlier this year of neglect and shoddy care at privately run facilities, linked to  patient deaths  in some cases.
 The debate over a 0.7 minimum staffing requirement has dragged on since at least 2012. Instead a looser requirement of one nurse for every two residents, i.e. a level of 0.5, was written into law.
 The last government, led by Centre Party PM  Juha Sipilä , then tried to lower the minimum to 0.4 as a cost-saving measure, but later abandoned the idea. The Centre is also part of the new government coalition.
 Two-track legislative reform
 The government is hoping for a broad reform of the Act on Care Services for Older People. However as a matter of expediency, it intends to first present an urgent bill this autumn that would simply raise the 0.5 caregiver level to 0.7.
 Other revisions to the law would then be presented separately next spring. These may include a cross-governmental programme to support Finland's rapidly ageing population, new support benefits aimed at fending off memory disorders and the establishment of an  ombudsman for senior affairs .
 The first bill would stipulate precise rules for staff working hours and what kinds of care patients need.
 "When this requirement becomes legislation, we have to define who is covered by the 0.7 rule and what duties are included," says  Satu Karppanen , ministerial adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, who is on the committee revising the law.
 "That in turn requires that we have a commonly agreed national metric for care needs, so that everyone receives care on the same basis in enhanced service residences. This also must be written into law," she tells Yle.
 According to Karppanen, the same metrics cannot be applied to seniors who are in home care or otherwise being cared for by relatives, so revisions of the law related to these cases will have to be postponed until spring.

Government moves to raise eldercare staffing requirement soon


Summary: Finland’s Consumer Authority reports hearing the same complaints year after year, but many are easily avoided.

Finland’s Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) receives approximately 65,000 customer complaints every year, with the largest number related to motor vehicles, renovations, and home sales and rental housing.
 Martti Suhonen  has worked for over 40 years in the consumer affairs industry, and says that at least some of the most common problems can be avoided by following a few simple tips.
 1. Budget for repairs when you buy a used car
 You should always assume that a used car, for example one with over 200,000 kilometres on the clock, will require some repairs.
 It is also worth remembering that a car's normal wear and tear is not against consumer law, nor is it an acceptable reason for breaking the deal.
 “It is not advisable to spend your last euros to meet the car’s purchase price, as there may also be repair costs associated with car maintenance that remain with the buyer,” Suhonen says.
 2. Carefully consider what suits you
 Consumers should always carefully consider what they are buying and at what price - even if the seller comes to the door.
 "For older people in particular, expensive pipe renovation or painting jobs may be marketed to them in their own homes. The buying decision may be rushed, ostensibly on the grounds that prices will rise in the near future, for example. However, the consumer always has the right to take time to consider the decision, even if the sales transaction takes place in their own home,” Suhonen advises.
 3. Don't pay in advance
 If you are buying a used car online, you should never pay in advance, because there is always a risk involved.
 Furthermore, when shopping online, you should avoid using a debit card, instead use a credit card if possible. In a situation where the goods do not come or they are incorrect, credit card companies are responsible for ensuring that the consumer gets their money back.
 Banks rarely compensate for losses caused by distance selling, such as telephone or online sales.
 "Paying in advance is always a risk. The consumer is in a weak position, for example, in the event of bankruptcy if he or she does not pay by credit card. When dealing with more unfamiliar companies in particular, it is advisable to search the web for the experiences of others, whether the goods have been delivered as agreed and as described. It is not advisable to pay for expensive goods with a bank card in advance," says Suhonen.
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 The Consumer Authority advise paying for products in advance with a credit card.  AOP
 4. Write it down in black and white
 Consumers should always record key contract matters on paper. In the case of a home renovation for example, there should at the very least be a price quoted for labour and supplies, as well as the completion time of the work.
 "Failure to complete the job on time should have a contractual penalty, which can be, for example, 500 euros per week from the date the repairs were due to be completed. If the customer does not initially get a price, but a price estimate, it is also worthwhile to record it in a document signed by both,” Suhonen suggests.
 5. Be critical
 If an online offer sounds too good to be true, then it usually is. Such scam offers often come directly to people's email inboxes.
 "The offer may be, for example, a smartphone for a euro. These are very rarely genuine," Suhonen cautions.
 6. Find out about the return policy
 Not all goods or services have an automatic right of return, even if the purchased product is lost. The right of return applies to home and distance selling, but when you buy from a store, there is no statutory return time.
 “When you shop, there is no shipment time unless the store specifically gives it. Some companies do provide one, however.”
 How to proceed with a consumer complaint
 If you suspect you have been cheated or are dissatisfied with the deal, your first step should be to make a direct complaint to the other party. If the complaint is unsuccessful, you may want to contact a consumer advisor for further guidance.
 Consumer Authorities generally aim to secure a settlement between parties to a complaint. As a result, fewer than 10 percent of all cases filed with the Consumer Disputes Board advance for consideration.

In the market for a new car or expensive renovation? 6 tips on becoming a smarter shopper


Summary: The Finnish Kennel Club wants the government to crack down on online dog sales.

The Finnish Food Authority warns of a growing risk of diseases in Finland due to the rising number of dogs imported into the country.
 The agency says that such dogs usually have documents indicating that they have been inoculated against rabies, but that they may not actually have enough vaccine antibodies. A fresh study by the authority found that animals brought in from Russia were most likely to lack sufficient antibodies.
 "Dogs brought to Finland must be vaccinated against rabies, but some those tested had insufficient antibody levels or lacked them altogether," says  Suvi Joutsen , a veterinarian and senior researcher at the Food Safety Authority's Risk Assessment Unit.
 The authority analysed samples from 85 dogs that were imported between March and November last year, mostly from Russia and European countries as well as Thailand.
 Unvaccinated dogs most often from Russia
 Of these, 28 percent lacked rabies antibodies. By far the largest number were from Russia, followed by Romania and Spain. About 35 percent of the dogs imported from Russia did not have rabies antibodies. Another eight percent of animals tested had antibodies, but below the recommended level.
 Officials estimate that at least 400 unvaccinated dogs arrive in Finland from rabies areas annually, as well as around 80 with insufficient antibody levels.
 Rabies can be transmitted to humans and can be fatal to both humans and dogs. The disease has not been found in Finland – except in imported animals – since 1989.
 Meanwhile about 30 percent of the dogs were carrying ESBL and/or AmpC-resistant bacteria such as E. coli.
 Street dogs' history usually unknown
 According to the agency, dogs imported into the country can be roughly divided into registered dogs, often imported for breeding, and so-called rescue dogs and dogs from puppy mills.
 Adults imported from Romania and Russia are usually street dogs whose background is murky and may have been exposed to various illnesses. Those brought in from Spain are typically abandoned pets or hunting dogs that probably have not been street dogs for long, but their background, too, is often mostly unknown.
 The Finnish Kennel Club notes that while dogs have been imported for breeding purposes throughout Finland's history, there has been a surge in recent years of people bringing in homeless dogs from abroad.
 "There are probably many reasons for this, but people are readily driven by the desire to rescue something," says Kennel Club chair  Harri Lehkonen .
 Buying a dog abroad may also be cheaper than doing so in Finland.
 "But this price difference often pales in comparison to the cost of rehabilitating a dog that falls ill, though," Lehkonen points out.
 Illicitly imported pets may be put down
 The canine association has praised the new government's plans to regulate online sales of animals and to require dogs to be chipped and registered. The Kennel Club is calling for stricter monitoring of online sales of dogs in particular, which Lehkonen says is a key risk factor related to dog imports.
 "The vendor's identity must be able to be firmly certified so that he or she cannot disappear after making a sale," he argues.
 If authorities find that an animal has been illegally imported, it must be either returned to the country where it came from, placed in quarantine at the importer's expense, or euthanised. If there is a suspicion that it may be carrying a disease, officials say that in practice the only alternative is for it to be  put down .

Finnish authorities warn of disease risk from imported dogs


Summary: The last decade has seen significantly lower doses of oestrogen and progestogen used to treat menopause symptoms.

Finnish health care professionals are cutting back on doses of hormones to treat symptoms associated with female menopause.
 "For a long time, it was thought that the larger the dose, the greater the risk. But an equal factor explaining the adjustment is that many women's symptoms were found to be relieved just as effectively with lower doses," says  Tomi Mikkola , head physician at Helsinki's Women's Hospital.
 The most effective treatment for addressing the symptoms of menopause is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which contains either oestrogen or a mix of oestrogen and progestogen. These are the same hormones a woman's body stops producing when menopause sets in, usually around the age of 50.
 "Sales of these hormone medications have gradually decreased in Finland, although we still have the highest overall consumption among the Nordics," says  Elina Hemminki , a research professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
 Hemminki says that information about the side effects of hormone treatment with relation to other illnesses is still patchy, as it can be dependent on several factors such as the type of medication and the timeframe and duration of treatment. Studies have however linked oestrogen-progestogen HRT to a greater risk of breast cancer.
 She says that hormone medication should never be used for longer periods or unnecessarily, as it should be taken to relieve menopause symptoms only.
 Women's Hospital doctor Mikkola says the benefits and risks of potential hormone treatment should be weighed carefully with gynaecologists on an individual basis before starting medication. He points out that being overweight presents as much of breast cancer risk as HRT, for example. Likewise, if a patient's family already has a history of cancer, the risk is significantly higher.
 Hot flashes and trouble sleeping
 HRT tablets ingested orally continue to dominate the market in Finland, but products like hormone patches and gels have become more popular in the last five to ten years. Mikkola says this is because the risk of blood clots has been shown to be much lower with these alternatives.
 Päivi Polo , a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Turku, says a new HRT tablet entered the Finnish market this year that combines oestrogen with bazedoxifene, which is not a hormone.
 "The bazedoxifene could prove to be safer than progesterone and would therefore lessen the associated risks," she says.
 Polo says the most typical menopause symptoms are hot flashes and trouble sleeping. She says many women who are affected wake up several times at night, either sweating or freezing cold.
 "Sometimes people don't connect their sleeping disorders with menopause, and they are prescribed sleeping pills. Hormone therapy is however still the primary treatment for dealing with sleep-related menopause symptoms," she says.
 Polo says that other symptoms of menopause include dry mucous membranes, joint and muscle pain, and mood swings. For some, the emotional changes can be made manifest as depression, anxiety, listlessness, and burnout.

Finland scales back hormone use in menopause treatment


Summary: Some 170,000 additional cars were registered for use in 2011-2018 in Finland, compared to a population increase of 120,000.

Despite government plans to discourage the use of passenger cars, the number of motor vehicles is currently growing at a faster clip than the population in almost all of Finland's larger cities, according to the news agency STT.
 The agency checked the number of registered cars in active use in each of the country's municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants and compared the findings with statistics on birth rates from Statistics Finland. In virtually every place examined, the number of cars newly registered beat out the number of new residents being born.
 In the southeast city of Kouvola, for example, the population has fallen by 4,000 so far this decade, while the number of cars in use has grown by 1,000. Locals say that cost-cutting has made services harder to reach and slashed public transport budgets, making cars even more necessary as communities shrink.
 Government seeks emission reductions
 The trend of more cars on the road spells trouble for Finland's government, as Prime Minister Antti Rinne's coalition has set a goal to reduce the number of Finnish traffic emissions by 50 percent before the year 2030. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications says their calculations will focus on emission levels and kilometers driven, not the number of motor vehicles that are registered.
 "The goal is to make transport emissions-free, not eliminate transport altogether," says  Päivi Antikainen , director of the ministry's climate and environment unit.
 "But if we consider the climate goals we have in mind for transport, it is clear that we will need to come up with something more," she concedes.
 All in all, STT calculated that over 2.7 million cars were in use in Finland at present, with electric and hybrid vehicles making up only a small fraction of the total at around 15,000.
 Ministry figures from last year show that the average Finn drove a car that was 12 years old, yielding 157 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometre. The EU set emission performance standards of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre for passenger cars in 2015, and starting in 2020, this target will be lowered to 95.
 First priority: Renewing Finland's aging fleet of cars
 Antikainen says it is crucial that Finland renews its fleet of passenger cars. She predicts that electric cars will soon be available for the same price as cars with a combustion engine.
 "We are moving towards lower emissions; the only question is how quickly it will happen," she says.
 While falling prices may act as a carrot, significant changes won't happen without sticks as well.  Taxation  has proven an effective deterrent.
 "Environmental policies in the transport sector have relied on the principle of "polluters pay". On the other hand, however, we have to pursue a path that will be socially sustainable. Nevertheless, the general understanding is clear: we have to end our dependence on fossil fuels," Antikainen says.
 Urban centres buck the trend
 Only three municipalities in Finland were found to have fewer cars being newly registered in proportion to the increase in population. These are the southern cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere. In the southwest hub of Turku, the number of registered cars has stayed largely the same.
 STT found that only one in three residents of Helsinki owns a car. Helsinki's traffic researcher  Katja Moilainen  says that this due to good public transport options and city planning. Recent investments in the Länsimetro underground transport extension and networks of shared city bikes could continue to reduce the need for car ownership in the capital city region, she says.
 Helsinki has made even more ambitious plans than Finland's newly-elected government: to cut traffic emissions by approximately 70 percent by the year 2035, by which time it  plans to be carbon neutral .
 "We have to do more to encourage sustainable transport habits," Moilainen says.

Number of cars growing more rapidly than population


Summary: There is also speculation that two other Finns, Olli Rehn and Jyrki Katainen, may pursue the institution's top post.

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro

Finnish politician  Alexander Stubb  has told the STT news agency that he might be interested in joining the race for the Managing Director position at the International Monetary Fund, also known as the IMF.
 Stubb, who served as Finland's prime minister in 2014-2015, said that his position as Vice-President at the European Investment Bank will finish at the end of 2019, and that he is still interested in an international appointment. The EIB is an international financial institution, with EU member states as its shareholders.
 Finnish media channels have also speculated that Bank of Finland Governor  Olli Rehn  and European Commission VP  Jyrki Katainen  (also a former prime minister, serving before Stubb from 2011 to 2014) may also be interested in the post.
 The IMF's current managing director,  Christine Lagarde  from France, was nominated by the European Council to succeed  Mario Draghi  as President of the European Central Bank on 2 July.
 Together with the World Bank, the IMF plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises in the world.

Former PM Stubb indicates interest in IMF leadership


Summary: Mobile phone challenges in the army, US rapper cancels performance, and speeding fines for a fleet of Ferraris.

A number of papers look at the issue of Finland’s compulsory military service, as more than 12,000 new recruits prepared to report for duty on Monday morning.
 Leading daily Helsingin Sanomat  considers how the new intake will cope with life in the army , particularly in relation to being without their mobile phones for long periods. This generation of ‘millenials’ have, according to HS, grown up with a mobile phone in their hands and adapting to the stricter rules of the army will not be easy for all.
 HS quotes one current recruit,  Jemina Alanen , who slowly overcame the urge to check her phone while on duty.
 “Before the army I used my phone a lot, but that has changed. The days are long and so busy that there is no chance to even miss it. But of course it is always with me,” Alanen tells the paper.
 Hail of bottles greets news of cancelled gig
 Tabloid daily Iltalehti reports on the  frustration of festival-goers at Ruisrock in Turku when Sunday’s headline act , American rapper  Travis Scott , cancelled his appearance a day in advance.
 The news was greeted by a hail of bottles thrown onto the stage by disappointed music fans - as the tabloid’s accompanying video shows - despite festival organiser  Jusu Lounela ’s pleas to remain calm.
 The paper also reports that the reasons for Scott’s late change of plan are still unclear, but his reported appearance in London on Saturday may provide some clue. Scott has twice previously cancelled gigs in Finland - in 2016 and again in 2018, both times when he had been due to perform at the Blockfest hip-hop festival in Tampere.
 This cancellation left a particularly sour taste in the mouths of many, especially as Scott's performance was intended to bring the festival's 50th anniversary celebrations to a close.
 “I am extremely annoyed that the performance of Travis Scott has gone like this. In particular, I would like to apologize to our audience, who have been waiting expectantly for this gig. The cancellation is in no way the fault of Ruisrock,” festival promoter  Mikko Niemelä  told the tabloid.
 The situation was not improved when Migos, another US hip-hop act booked to replace Scott, was unable to make it either due to technical problems with their plane, which left them grounded in Frankfurt.
 "The police are jealous"
 Many papers cover the story of an apparent Sunday morning Ferrari race on a highway in Central Finland, with Jyväskylä daily Keskisuomalainen reporting that  locals were left rubbing their eyes in disbelief as police pulled over a fleet of the high-powered luxury cars outside the city of Äänekoski .
 The nine cars were reportedly driving in convoy towards Helsinki from the "Ferraris at Arctic Circle" event in Rovaniemi, northern Finland, when police stopped all of them on suspicion of speeding and dangerous driving.
 Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  caught up with of the drivers , who they report to be members of the Ferrari Passione Rossa club based in southern Europe.
 "The police are jealous of Ferrari. I'm not going to come back to Finland anymore. This was the first and last time." the unnamed man told the tabloid.

Monday’s papers: New recruits begin military service, frustrations at Ruisrock, and Ferrari race on a Finnish highway


Summary: Kaustinen Folk is a sprawling event involving 4,000 performers from as far afield as Argentina and Kenya.

The Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, which kicks off on Monday afternoon, swells a small Ostrobothnian town into a musical metropolis for a week.
 Last year this central Ostrobothnian town of 4,300, north-east of Vaasa, drew 47,000 people for a week of music and dance events. This year the 52nd annual event includes 1,600 concerts, not counting impromptu sessions in pubs and on sidewalks.
 Story continues after photo
 Folk dance also takes pride of place at Kaustinen. Kaustisen kansanmusiikkijuhlat
 There are some 4,000 performers from 23 countries, including Argentina, Cyprus, Italy, Kenya, Morocco and the US as well as neighbouring Russia and Sweden.
 Fiddle-driven
 The programme centres on the region's traditional fiddle-driven folk music known as  pelimanni  ( spelman  in Swedish). Last year 518  pelimanni  groups appeared, including some made up of local schoolkids. This year's regional focus is Savo in eastern Finland.
 The best-known Finnish folk acts on the bill are Tallari and accordionist  Antti Paalanen , but there are also plenty of non-traditional domestic acts. These range from close-harmony sextet Rajaton to pop singers  Samuli Edelmann  and  Vuokko Hovatta  (formerly of Ultra Bra), sign-language rapper  Signmark  and indie-rock band Vesterinen yhtyeineen.
 Story continues after photo
 Musicians arriving for the festival. Antti Kettumäki / Yle
 The first day's events are all free, as are many of the smaller less-formal gigs during the week. Some 450 local volunteers help run the festival.
 After a period of financial turmoil, the festival has been arranged since 2012 by the Pro Kaustinen association, which took over as programme producer the previous year. The town arranges in-home accommodation for visitors, as the few local lodgings book up far in advance.
 Founded in 1968, Kaustinen is one of Finland's oldest music festivals just behind Pori Jazz (1966) and the Savonlinna Opera Festival (1967).

Finland's biggest folk fest draws 47,000 to Ostrobothnian village


Summary: Tourist offices in many of Finland's largest cities report a steady rise in the number of domestic visitors.

Finnish tourists are increasingly choosing to holiday in Finland, according to preliminary data released by tourist offices in the cities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Lahti, Tampere and Turku - although full statistics for the early summer are not yet available.
 "Domestic tourism for overnight stays has increased throughout the first half of the year. This growth in domestic tourists is expected to continue during the summer too," the city of Helsinki's Senior Advisor  Jukka Punamäki  told Yle.
 The southern city of Tampere has also reported an increase in accommodation volumes for the month of May, while domestic travel into the central city of Jyväskylä grew by four per cent compared with the same month last year.
 "Domestic tourism has indeed been revived. It had remained at the same level for years, but is now on the rise. That's a delightful thing," said  Susanne Sarvilinna , Tourism and Marketing Manager at Visit Jyväskylä.
 In the southwestern coastal city of Turku, the increase in the number of domestic tourists is evident by, among other factors, the kind of customers visiting the tourist information centre.
 "A few different demographics were interviewed and in some cases there was growth of up to 10-13 percent for domestic tourists. It's really great in so many ways," said  Satu Hirvenoja , the Sales and Marketing Director of Visit Turku.
 By train and by plane
 Although there are clear signs that domestic tourism has increased in recent years, the differences are not very significant. Last year, Finns made an estimated 6.83 million leisure trips in Finland that included at least one overnight stay in paid accommodation. This figure represents only a very slight increase on the previous year.
 Last year, Finns also made approximately 19 million 'free trips', such as excursions to a cottage or to visit a relative.
 The state-owned railway company VR recently announced that the number of long-distance passengers using rail services in May was up by six per cent compared to the same month of the previous year. The route between Helsinki and Rovaniemi saw the highest rise in passenger numbers.
 Story continues after photo
 Rail travel is on the rise in Finland, with May seeing a six per cent increase in passenger numbers.  Soile Laaksonen / VR Group
 At the same time, Finland's domestic air travel is also growing. According to domestic flight statistics provided by Finavia, the number of air passengers at the end of May this year was 10.4 million, which is four percent higher than at the same time last year. However, the statistics do not specify the nationality of the passengers, so it is not yet known whether the trips were made by Finns or whether it is due to an increase in the number of foreign tourists.
 A recent survey commissioned by insurance firm If and carried out by YouGov Finland found that  one third of Finns felt guilty about their use of air travel , but few were willing to change their habits.
 Last year, Finns made 7.39 million trips abroad which included at least one overnight stay. The amount was somewhat lower than in the previous year, but in the longer term the trend has been on the increase.
 Hotels in Finland, however, report that growth is not significantly visible.  Nina Nieminen , Director of Income Management at Sokos Hotels, told Yle that based on May and June, this summer will be quite similar to the previous one. Yle was unable to obtain comments from two other major hotel chains in Finland, Scandic and Holiday Club.
 Local and climate-conscious tourism
 The recent spike in domestic tourism was anticipated earlier this year, when a survey commissioned by the Finnish Association of Tourism Organisations (Suoma) found that as many as 74 percent of Finns said they planned to travel within Finland over the coming summer.
 Over the last three years, the biggest rise in domestic tourism has especially come from people aged 18-44. The main reasons cited for the choosing of domestic holidays are interest in local areas, and climate consciousness.
 Representatives of tourism organisations cite similar motivations when they are asked about the reasons for the growth in domestic tourism.
 "We can only really speculate about how much sustainability concerns increase the interest in local tourism. Although it will probably grow more and more in the years to come," predicts Punamäki from the city of Helsinki.
 Hirvenoja of Visit Turku highlighted a further advantage to domestic tourism. When the journey is shorter, the holiday mood starts immediately, instead of after many hours of travelling.
 "Finns are showing responsibility and travelling within Finland. Previously people always felt they had to go somewhere, but now you can just stay local," she said.
 Satu Hirvenoja of Visit Turku believes that climate responsibility has an impact on domestic tourism Paula Collin / Yle
 In Lahti, tourism to the city has been especially boosted by Finnish visitors. Lahti's location in the centre of the main southern urban areas make it an ideal option for domestic tourists. The natural surroundings of the Finnish lake district is an added bonus, and a number of major events in the city this summer will keep the domestic tourists coming.
 "Tourism has been growing strongly throughout the year, and the number of tourists in early summer is a new record," said Visit Lahti's Managing Director,  Raija Forsman .
 Growth not visible everywhere
 While some cities have enjoyed increased domestic tourism, others reported no significant growth in the number of visitors. These cities are Espoo, Kuopio, Oulu, Pori and Vantaa.
 In Espoo, registered overnight stays are roughly the same as in the previous year. However, Visit Espoo told Yle that the general interest in local and domestic tourism has clearly increased.
 Lennart Pettersson , development manager for Visit Espoo, believes the only good thing to come out of climate change is to make people look closer to home and find that there is no need to travel far for variation.
 In Kuopio, this summer's accommodation situation also looks very similar to last year's.  Ville Puustinen , Chairman of the Board of Kuopio-Tahko Marketing, says that the trend is for reservations to come in over a very short span of time. Same-day bookings are especially high.
 "Of course, this is affected by the weather. You often hear at the counter that people are following the sun," said Puustinen.
 In the northern city of Oulu, domestic tourism has a strong foundation and is of great importance to the region. About 85 percent of tourists visiting Oulu are Finns. However, although domestic travel has not significantly increased, foreign tourists are visiting in greater numbers.
 "Registered overnight stays by international travellers are on the rise. At the beginning of the year, growth was 30 percent compared to the same period last year," reveals  Anna Meriruoho , Tourism Manager at the city of Oulu.
 Meriruoho added that many new visitors are coming to Oulu from Japan and China.

Finland's cities benefiting from domestic tourism trend