Summary: Domestic media outlets explore Covid boosters, snowstorms in November and space savers for remote workers.

Finland's Covid booster rollout is progressing "calmly," according to experts interviewed by  Helsingin Sanomat .
 Some 2.4 percent of double-jabbed individuals have so far received a third dose offered six months after their second jab.
 In Uusimaa, for example, people over 70 started getting their second shots in May, making them eligible for a third dose this month.
 Public health institute THL currently  recommends top-up shots  for people over 60, those living in care homes and people in medical high-risk groups. Third shots are also available to immunocompromised individuals as well as those who received their two doses less than six weeks apart.
 While Finland has reached 80 percent double-dose vaccination coverage for those aged 12 and over, the country is seeing  increasing case counts , higher test positivity and greater strain on hospitals and healthcare providers—just as the run-up to Christmas prompts greater social mixing and therefore possible exposures to Covid.
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 Winter's coming
 Finland has been experiencing unseasonably mild weather this month, with the mercury reaching 10C in southern areas, but  Iltalehti  reports that will soon change.
 Foreca meteorologist  Markus Mäntykannas  said November's monthly forecast suggests a sudden change in the weather.
 "The forecast suggests November will be quite cold—an early winter is possible across the European continent," he explained.
 Mäntykannas urged motorists in southern Finland to switch to  winter tyres  as soon as possible.
 "This year there's a chance of snowfall in the south very early on, with snow storms possible in November."
 Sleeping on a table
 A Finnish tablebed has earned a special mention on Time Magazine's list of the 100 best inventions of the year, according to  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 Tablebed is a six-person dinner table that doubles up as a bed—an invention  Time  called a space saver for the work-from-home era.
 Inventor  Dine Renfors  said the idea arose from the realisation that his bed and table used more space than any other furniture in his two-room apartment.

Friday's papers: Third shots, snow arriving and micro living


Summary: Women in Finland earn on average about 16 percent less than men.

Public and welfare sector trade union JHL has demanded the introduction of wage transparency in the Finnish labour market as a means of tackling the gender pay gap.
 The union published a  statement on the matter  on Friday.
 The union recently published a study which found that the pay gap between men and women could be reduced if workers knew what their colleagues earned.
 In Finland women earned on average 16 percent less than men, according to Statistics Finland. Finland's offical number crunchers found that full-time male employees in Finland earned an average of 3,759 euros per month while women earned an average of 3,154 euros.
 This 16 percent gap was also mentioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a  statement  entitled 'Towards Equal Pay', while an OECD  ranking  put the margin even higher, at 17.2 percent.
 Government preparing draft bill
 Reuters  reported  on Thursday that Finland's government is currently drafting a law that would allow workers to find out what their colleagues earn if they suspect they are being discriminated against.
 "What is central to the government's programme is the elimination of unjustified pay gaps. They will now be addressed more rigorously," Minister for Equality  Thomas Blomqvist  told Reuters, adding that the government expects to introduce the law during this current term of office.
 However, according to Reuters, the draft bill has been criticised by both employee unions — which say the bill does not go far enough — and Finland's largest employers' organisation, which argues that the law will create more conflicts in the workplace.

Union calls for salary transparency to tackle Finland's gender pay gap


Summary: Some 30 migrants have arrived in Finland as a result of a crisis the EU says was orchestrated by Belarus.

Finnish politicians are reacting to a Die Welt  report  that Belarus is channelling Middle Eastern migrants to Germany and Finland to protest sanctions against Minsk.
 Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  (Green) said some 30 migrants had reached Finland via Belarus.
 "Information from the Border Guard and my own civil servants point to these individuals arriving via a hybrid operation. What Belarus is doing now is reprehensible," she said.
 Ohisalo told Yle that Finland's emergency powers laws were in need of swift updating, noting that current rules no longer correspond to threats and risks emerging in Europe.
 National Coalition Party (NCP) and Finns Party MPs have called for the government to urgently introduce legislative changes to make it possible to  suspend the reception  of asylum applications.
 NCP leader  Petteri Orpo  said Finland lacks the legal framework for dealing with uncontrolled migration.
 "We have to send the world the message that Finland can't be influenced by these types of operations. We can if necessary close our borders by not accepting asylum applications. That's a message to people that it's not worth trusting smugglers," he said.
 Escalating Polish border crisis
 Thousands of mostly Middle Eastern migrants are attempting to cross the border from Belarus into Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
 Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  told Yle the situation on the Polish border was alarming.
 "It looks bad. Especially that Belarus is pushing people across the border [into Poland] at an increasing pace," he said.
 The EU has said Belarusian president  Alexander Lukashenko 's  pathway into Europe for Middle Eastern migrants  is a hybrid operation by Belarus to protest sanctions imposed on the country after its disputed 2020 presidential election.
 On Wednesday Niinistö discussed the situation on the Poland-Belarus border with Polish President  Andrzej Duda . Niinistö said he and Duda both speculated as to why Belarus was exerting pressure on Poland.
 "The question arises whether the aim is to create a border conflict or drive a wedge in the EU," Niinistö said, adding that "both scenarios suggest a hybrid operation."
 Brussels and Warsaw have meanwhile been at odds for years. Last month the EU fined Poland millions of euros in a rule of law dispute.
 Niinistö: This isn't 2015
 The Finnish President said the current situation is different from the 2015 migration crisis which saw 32,000 people seek asylum in Finland. He pointed out that six years ago people arrived on their own accord, whereas this situation was being orchestrated by Belarus.
 On Thursday German newspaper Die Welt claimed that Germany and Finland are the main destinations for migrants trying to enter the EU through the Belarusian-Polish border.
 Die Welt said it had obtained a classified EU Commission document, noting that four to seven planes were arriving in Minsk every week carrying migrants.
 According to Niinistö, "it's worrying that people would readily make their way to Finland through Poland and the Baltics."
 He said there was a need to revise current legislation to cover hybrid threats, also hinting at tightening migration policies.
 "In a few New Year's addresses I’ve made the point that in today's world it's not really possible to function with loose legislation, especially in comparison to the other Nordics," he said, alluding to asylum policies.
 This year Denmark set a target of zero asylum applications.
 In terms of migrants massing on the Polish border, Niinistö said dialogue between all parties involved, including Russia, was the only way forward.
 "Pure speculation"
 Commenting on Die Welt's story, European Parliament members  Heidi Hautala  (Green) and  Nils   Torvalds  (SPP) said they were suspicious of the German paper's reporting in terms of migrants heading to Finland.
 "Die Welt isn't exactly the beacon of truth," Torvalds told Yle on Friday.
 Hautala meanwhile called the story "pure speculation."
 "There's a rumour that there's some [classified EU] document. We haven't seen it, and Die Welt hasn't made it public," Hautala said.
 Both Torvalds and Hautala also said it was unlikely Lukashenko would follow through on threats to interrupt gas deliveries to the EU.
 "If he would cut the gas supply, he would actually be hurting Russian interests and Belarus' reputation as a secure natural gas producer," Torvalds said.
 Hautala meanwhile added that Lukashenko would need  Vladimir Putin 's blessing before cutting off any gas deliveries.

Finland considers new asylum rules amid Poland-Belarus migrant crisis


Summary: The citizens' initiative coincides with a government proposal to amend the same laws.

MPs have referred a citizens' initiative calling for reform of Finland's transgender legislation to Parliament's Committee on Social Affairs and Health following a plenary debate on Thursday afternoon.
 The initiative, titled "The Right to Be," received the 50,000 signatures required to progress to Parliament earlier this year.
 Under Finland's current legislation, a trans individual has to provide proof that they have been sterilised before they can acquire legal gender recognition.
 The Finnish government has been facing mounting pressure to reform the act, particularly from human rights organisations and the EU, which have stated that it violates the European Convention on Human Rights.
 Competing reform proposals
 A working committee, which was assembled as part of the current administration's equality programme, has already started the process of drafting changes to the existing transgender legislation.
 According to Yle sources at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the government will present its own proposal to Parliament sometime next spring.
 While the overlapping schedules of the citizens' initiative and the government's legal reform process have raised questions, there are key differences between the two.
 The content of the government's newly drafted bill has not yet been made public, but initial reports indicate that the amendments would only apply to adults, that is, those aged 18 and over.
 "We know that the bill will exclude people under the age of 18, and a key reason for starting "The Right to Be" initiative was to address this issue,"  Kasper Kivistö , chair of the board of Trasek, an association promoting transgender and intersex rights, said.
 The initiative seeks to enable gender to be legally recognised on the principle of self-determination, whereby adults as well as minors can define their own gender.
 According to Kivistö, whose organisation is part of the government's working committee to reform the law, the ongoing official process lacks transparency and clarity.
 However, it currently remains unclear which proposal will be approved. In 2017, a bill to amend Finland's trans act did not receive  enough support  from MPS to be considered by a parliamentary committee.

Citizens' initiative calling for trans law reform moves to parliamentary committee


Summary: The protest was timed to coincide with the final day of the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the Elokapina climate action group said.

Police have detained 14 climate activists following a protest by Elokapina, the Finnish branch of the Extinction Rebellion movement, outside City Hall in downtown Helsinki on Friday evening.
 Police said the protestors are being held on suspected charges of disobedience towards a police officer.
 The protest was timed to coincide with the final day of the Climate Change Conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow, the climate action group said.
 Organisers had not informed authorities that they would be holding the protest, which caused some disruptions to traffic in the centre of the capital, according to the Helsinki Police Department.
 Protestors initially gathered at the Havis Amanda statue before spreading out to the surrounding streets. Police noted that there were around 40 people blocking the road when they arrived to disperse the gathering.
 Elokapina has arranged a number of protests in the capital area this autumn, including a ten-day 'Autumn Rebellion' ( Syyskapina  in Finnish) which included  protestors chaining themselves  to the entrance of the Government Palace building in October.
 The action group has called for Finland's government to declare a climate and environmental emergency, and to create binding legislation that will achieve carbon neutrality by 2025, a decade ahead of the government's current goal of 2035.

Police detain activists following climate protest outside Helsinki City Hall


Summary: The past 20 years have seen a seven-fold increase in cases of the autism spectrum disorder diagnosed in girls and women in Finland.

More and more people in Finland are being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a developmental disorder. While women's cases have increased seven-fold in the past two decades, diagnoses among boys and men have tripled, according to the Finnish institute for health and welfare (THL).
 In the past five years, some 4,600 people in Finland have received diagnoses for Asperger's. A third of these cases were among females, suggesting that women's autism spectrum disorders have been significantly under-diagnosed.
 Mika Gissler , a research professor at the THL, said increased awareness of the condition has contributed to the surge in cases.
 Today, more people in the public eye are also talking about living with the condition, including teenage climate activist  Greta Thunberg , tech entrepreneur  Elon Musk  and actor  Anthony Hopkins .
 The country's autism association, Autism Finland, said parents who suspect their children are on the spectrum are also increasingly reaching out to the organisation.
 Asperger's symptoms include difficulties communicating and interacting in social situations, repetitive patterns of behavior and a fixation on specific interests. Symptoms, however, vary by sex, with girls often having better social skills than boys.
 "Girls are often able to mask the typical symptoms. They can learn to play a certain role in different situations. These roles can be based on the behaviour of the most popular girl in the class or a TV character," Gissler explained.
 He also said that the interests of Asperger's girls are generally more in line with those of typically developing girls, leading adults to be more likely to miss autistic symptoms.

Asperger's in women significantly under-diagnosed


Summary: Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Yle there were reports of Finnish-speaking traffickers in Belarusian  border areas.

Finnish Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green) on Saturday said Finland has hardly been affected by Belarus' hybrid operation, which has involved the country pushing  Middle Eastern migrants towards the Polish  border. The EU has deemed Belarus' actions retaliatory for its sanctions against Minsk.
 "The majority of those making it across the Polish border have tried to reach Germany," Haavisto said.
 Germany has seen 8,400 people arriving from Belarus, whereas a few dozen have reached Finland. Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  (Green) said some 30 migrants had reached Finland via Belarus.
 Speaking on Yle's Ykkösaamu show on Saturday, Haavisto refuted German newspaper Die Welt's report earlier this week that migrants were ultimately trying to reach Finland as well as Germany via Belarus.
 "Finland does not know of Belarus having any other intention than driving the migrants it has transported to Minsk into the EU as part of its hybrid operation," Haavisto explained.
 Finland-linked traffickers?
 Haavisto did, however, not rule out the possibility of trafficking activity linked to Finland.
 "It's totally possible. This could be a lucrative business for some. Human smuggling in the Mediterranean, for example, has evolved into a business. I've heard rumours that Finnish-speaking individuals have been moving around the Belarusian side of the border.
 In recent days Finnish politicians, including President  Sauli Niinistö , have argued that Finnish laws need updating to better deal with hybrid threats, particularly those related to migration.
 On that front, Haavisto agreed with his fellow Green cabinet member Ohisalo that Finland needs to revise laws related to emergency powers.
 "I think these types of modern hybrid threats are comparable to armed attack. One example is the September 11 attacks in the US: There were no guns but planes flew into buildings. Emergency powers need to be able to deal with these types of threats," he explained.
 European Commission President  Ursula von der Leyen  has described Belarus' tactics as the  instrumentalisation of migrants  for political purposes.
 Reacting to recent discussions on Finnish legislation, Haavisto said it wasn't wise for Finland to give the impression that its laws had loopholes.
 "Finland is prepared to defend itself against all types of threats," he said, though noting that current laws were not designed to reflect a situation where people were being "used as weapons."
 Haavisto did not want to speculate on how Finland's migration rules might change, instead saying it would be wise to see how the current situation develops.
 EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss Belarus' actions.

FM: Finnish-speakers rumoured to be involved in human smuggling on Belarusian border


Summary: Covid disrupted Finland's 700-year-old Christmas Peace tradition last year.

Authorities in Turku are preparing to open up the annual Christmas Peace Declaration to the public after Covid disrupted the 700-year tradition in 2020.
 This would mean that attendees will be allowed to gather in the Old Market Square to observe the ceremony as usual.
 However, city officials said that the plan may change if the Covid situation in the region continues to deteriorate.
 "All matters related to security are taken into account, but no special arrangements are being made for the time being," said  Sari Haavisto , Public Relations Coordinator of the City of Turku.
 In 2020, the Old Market Square in Turku was fenced off to keep the public from entering the area. The choir was also smaller than usual. The Christmas Peace was however still declared from the balcony of Brinkkala House, as per the tradition.
 According to  Mika Akkanen , the protocol manager for the Christmas Peace, last year's declaration was technically no different from previous years. The atmosphere, however, paled in comparison.
 "It felt tepid without an audience there. I really hope that this year the Declaration of Christmas Peace can return to normal," Akkanen said, adding that this year's proclamation will be his ninth.
 "Time flies," Akkanen remarked. "I feel like I just started this job. I hope that the mayor has confidence in my abilities and that I will be able to continue in this position for years to come."

Turku plans to allow public attend Christmas Peace Declaration


Summary: Finland is party to international agreements ratified to ensure the humane treatment of migrants.

Scenes of thousands of migrants converging on the Poland-Belarus border have prompted many in Finland to assess how the country would respond if a large number of asylum seekers were to arrive on the Finnish border.
 National Coalition Party (NCP) and Finns Party MPs have called for the government to urgently introduce legislative changes to make it possible to  suspend the reception of asylum applications . Such action is, however, implausible without breaching a host of international agreements that Finland is party to.
 Mikko Lehmus , who heads the Border Guard's risk analysis unit, told Yle that "closing borders" is not a Finnish legal concept.
 He noted that Finland can shut down border crossing points, which essentially entails blocking traffic with booms and preventing people from moving through checkpoints.
 Lehmus said building a fence along Finland's external border would be unrealistic from a cost perspective.
 "Constructing a fence in southeastern Estonia costs 500-1,000 euros per metre. Finland has some 1,300 kilometres of border," he said, noting that not one migrant related to Belarus' hybrid operation has entered Finland via the eastern border.
 The few dozen people who  have reached Finland  via Belarus have arrived from other EU countries. Twenty of these individuals have sought asylum in Finland.
 Lehmus emphasised that border officials are always obliged to accept asylum applications, with individuals allowed to stay in Finland until their cases reach a legal conclusion.
 International law professor  Martti Koskenniemi  added that Finland can't opt out of international agreements regarding humanitarian protection even if thousands of migrants arrive on Finnish borders.
 This means Finland cannot turn away migrants that have made it inside Finnish borders if they cite grounds for seeking asylum. The Helsinki University professor also noted that preventing asylum seekers from filing applications in Finland could qualify as breaching European human rights agreements in terms of inhumane treatment.
 Defending one's sovereignty is also not a reason to ignore international treaties, according to Koskenniemi.
 He, however, said that in an emergency it may be possible to legally diverge from certain agreements. The criteria for what constitutes an emergency is open for interpretation, according to Koskenniemi, who noted that the arrival of a few hundred or a thousand migrants on the border would not fill that criteria.
 "Violating treaties or international law is serious. It justifies other states taking countermeasures. Above all, it creates a precedent others can use in the future against the infringer," he said.

"No sense in building a fence," border official says


Summary: Three Finnish cities have abandoned 8am school mornings to help adolescents get more sleep.

Morning lessons rarely begin at 8am at high schools in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. This schoolyear these cities' upper secondary schools delayed start times after years of discussion on the subject.
 In most cases, this means coming to class 15 or 30 minutes later.
 Turku's pilot programme ensures high schoolers in the city start no earlier than 8.30am.
 Jussi Paavola , the city's upper secondary education service director, said parents and students both wanted later school starts.
 "They asked to start later, and there's science supporting the benefits of teens waking up later in the morning," Paavola said of the pilot which has drawn positive feedback.
 In Tampere, the first bell rings for high schoolers at 8.15am.
 Matti Hännikäinen , who heads Tampere's high school education, said that over the years teens have been increasingly losing sleep to screen time, including gaming and social media.
 But later school starts in Tampere were also linked to staggering public transport.
 "We didn't want everyone in the city rushing at the same time," he explained.
 Helsinki's high schools have also delayed their mornings. In the capital it's up to individual schools to decide when their mornings begin, according to  Harri Korhonen , head of upper secondary education.
 Some Helsinki high schools have introduced start times as late as 9am.
 Previous research has indicated that about one in five young people in Finland  have difficulty  sleeping.

Schools start later to prioritise teen sleep


Summary: Our audience had many ideas for improving the system as Finland heads into a healthcare vote.

Finland's health and social care providers are to be controlled by new county councils from next year. Voters go to the polls at the  end of January  to elect the new bodies.
 We asked our audience what they think should be the big issues on the agenda for politicians elected to these new councils, and they had plenty of ideas.
 Language barriers
 Lots of people mentioned language difficulties when trying to navigate the system.
 Many would-be patients said they don't know which service to contact, reported being misunderstood when describing the help needed and said they did not receive required help, in addition to many other challenges.
 One respondent,  Sara** , recalled how she ran into a multitude of unnecessary and wholly avoidable problems when she attempted to solve a particularly sensitive personal problem in English. This included being misunderstood and receiving erroneous advice that further exacerbated her problem—until her Finnish spouse stepped in to help.
 "I should be entitled to receive help without discrimination, but that did not happen. I should not have to bring [my spouse] just to get someone to listen to me," Sara said.
 Henna Leppämäki , a Senior Specialist with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, told Yle News that Finland's Language Act as well as the Administrative Procedure Act entitle a person to interpreting services if they cannot speak Finnish or Swedish. This provision will be continued, and potentially improved, under the Sote reform, she added.
 "Most municipalities have contracts with interpreting service providers and remote services are more common and widely used especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic," she said.
 The social or healthcare service provider should arrange and pay for the interpreter, Leppämäki added, but it is important that the patient or client also requests this service.
 On a broader level,  Anu Castaneda , team lead of public health agency THL's Migration and Cultural Diversity Team, suggested the Sote reform could introduce improvements in how Finnish is used in the provision of services.
 "Answers to this problem could be, for example, developing the use of simple Finnish language, supporting people in learning Finnish, developing multilingual and multichannel aspects in health services, and training professionals in areas of equality and encountering cultural diversity and people from different backgrounds," Castneda said.
 The introduction of measures such as these, and their extent, would depend on the makeup of the regional councils elected on 23 January.
 'Gatekeeping' and the appointments obstacle course
 Another recurring problem was the difficulties many people reported experiencing while trying to book an appointment, especially to see a nurse, doctor or dentist.
 Difficulties in getting a referral to a specialist was a common complaint, and even initial appointments can sometimes seem hard to come by in parts of the system.
 Margarita*  told Yle News that she felt "completely dismissed" as she kept hitting dead ends when she turned to a branch of the public services system for help.
 Despite all these challenges, Margarita recalls that she slowly made progress and finally received the referral she needed to proceed. However, her case was then further delayed for an additional two months because an official "forgot" to send her referral.
 "I was not living, I was surviving, I was in pain. They knew this," Margarita said. "I needed help, and [the official] forgot."
 The health ministry's Senior Ministerial Adviser,  Tapani Hämäläinen , said that people who feel they are being denied access to services are entitled to escalate the case to the health centre's management or else to the Patient or Social Ombudsman.
 "If people feel that they have been treated improperly by social and healthcare services, or if they need advice about their rights, they can consult the Patient Ombudsman or Social Ombudsman," Hämäläinen advised.
 Every municipal health centre has a Patient Ombudsman and there is a Social Ombudsman in every municipality. Their contact details can usually be found on the websites of either the health centre or the municipality.
 Both of these offices, Hämäläinen added, can also help people to file complaints about social or healthcare services to a Regional State Administrative Agency (Avi), or in some cases to the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvia).
 THL's Castaneda also recommended contacting Finland's Non-Discrimination Ombudsman if anyone suspects they are being denied access to services for discriminatory reasons.
 "In questions of equality the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman may be contacted with a low threshold and they investigate the situations case by case," she said.
 Shortcomings in preventative care
 Quite a number of respondents cited the apparent lack of preventative care within the Finnish system. They worried that smaller, relatively less significant issues have the potential to become much larger, more serious problems if not dealt with swiftly and effectively in the early stages.
 "Failure demand, meaning how often you have to be in contact to get your problem sorted, is only now being recognised as a problem [by Finnish authorities]," one respondent said.
 "Detecting and treating a minor condition early enough can prevent the need to save a life later on."
 There are a number of different stages to preventative care, including the patient's own responsibilities, but one key step is early diagnosis and prompt treatment of potentially life-changing or even fatal diseases.
 Kirsi Paasovaara , a senior specialist at the ministry of health, told Yle News that switching the focus of services to preventative and proactive work is one of the government's key objectives for the Sote reform.
 "The focus of services will be shifted from specialised healthcare to primary health care and preventive work. The role of social welfare will be emphasised more than previously," Paasovaara said.
 Knock-on effects
 While most of the respondents mentioned so far in this article reported that their issues were eventually resolved to some extent—albeit after a period of stress and frustration—Yle News also learned of a small number of cases which have had very serious knock-on effects for the people involved.
 In one case,  Anna**  relayed to Yle News how a doctor's misdiagnosis almost led to her losing her home.
 In the summer of 2020, Anna went to a clinic complaining of severe pains, but was told that it was nothing serious and would soon pass. The pains persisted, however, so she went to a different doctor for a second opinion, where her correct—and very serious—diagnosis was discovered.
 Anna's temporary work contract expired at around the same time as the misdiagnosis, but she could not renew her contract or find a new job due to her medical condition. She was also not entitled to any sick leave payments.
 While undergoing a series of operations over the first few months of 2021, Anna's financial situation deteriorated rapidly due to continued complications and delays receiving social welfare payments, as confusion over her original diagnosis led to misinterpretation of her entitlements.
 With no income coming in for months at a time, the bills began to pile up and were eventually passed on by the creditors to debt collection agencies. This led to many additional problems including repeated threats of eviction.
 "I am speechless about how the healthcare and social services system works in Finland," Anna said. "If you are facing financial problems, you will not get any help from anywhere."
 According to Kirsi Paasovaara of the health ministry, Anna's case is a prime example of the problems that can arise when different departments work in 'silos', meaning that they operate within their own bubble only, as has often been the case under the previous system.
 However, she added that the Sote reform intends to tackle these issues.
 "The reform will develop healthcare and social welfare services and reorganise their structure. Basic public services and preventive work will be strengthened. The aim is to ensure that people have smooth access to health and social services and receive help for their individual needs," Paasovaara said.
 Check out our  simple guide  for all you need to know about the upcoming regional election.
 * Margarita asked that Yle News not use her surname.
 ** The names of Sara and Anna have all been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.

Can Sote reform improve foreigners' experience of Finland's social and healthcare system?


Summary: Krista Mikkonen (Green) said rich countries should do more to help nations coping with the effects of climate change.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Finland's Climate Change Minister,  Krista Mikkonen  (Green), said countries' agreement to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels was a key takeaway from the COP26 UN climate talks that ended in Glasgow on Saturday.
 She, however, noted that "we would have needed to be more ambitious."
 Mikkonen said rich nations' climate financing for vulnerable countries in the southern hemisphere will be an increasingly important topic in the future.
 Negotiations in Glasgow completed the Paris Rulebook, a set of guidelines for a zero-carbon future.
 Despite taking five years to complete, Mikkonen said the rulebook showed that the international community is able to work towards solutions to prevent a climate crisis.
 The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) meanwhile said goals to stop fossil fuel subsidies fell short.
 WWF Finland was also less upbeat than the climate minister regarding COP26's progress. The environmental organisation told Yle that although world leaders made promises, the summit was still a disappointment in terms of funding earmarked for combating climate change. WWF Finland, however, said the summit's outcome kept the hope of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C alive.

Climate Minister highlights financial support for climate loss


Summary: Ilta-Sanomat reports that a citizens' initiative to ban the introduction of Covid passports in the workplace will be taken up by Finnish lawmakers.

A citizens' initiative opposing the introduction of Covid passports in workplaces has gathered the required 50,000 signatures needed to be taken up by Parliament.
 According to an STT report carried by the tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat , the initiative calls for a law in Finland that would prevent the introduction of a corona passport in the workplace. The initiative notes that every citizen should have the right to work regardless of vaccination status.
 In practice, "passport" in this context refers to the EU Digital Covid Certificate, which is available from the My Kanta online service, or in printed form from healthcare providers. The passport enables people to gain entry to various events. Obtaining one requires vaccination against Covid-19, a certificate of a recent negative test result, or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19.
 The initiative to legally ban workplace Covid passport requirements gathered the required number of signatures within a week of its launch.
 It has been reported that the government of Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) is considering  extending a Covid passport to some jobs .
 Visit to ICU
 Monday's  Keskisuomalainen carries a report  on a visit to the intensive care unit of Jyväskylä's Nova hospital.
 Since the start of  the pandemic , about 50 Covid patients have passed through Nova's ICU. The vast majority of them have recovered from the disease, a number have to be sent to Kuopio for care, a few have died. In the very worst cases, some patients did not even make it into the ICU, as their prognosis was deemed too poor for recovery. Keskisuomalainen paints a very bleak picture of patients in the ICU, describing their experience as like spending weeks in a black hole and awakening in an incomprehensibly weak physical state.
 It also writes that it is not yet known what the long-term effects disease will be.
 Medical staff in the unit repeatedly stressed to the paper the importance of vaccination and their lack of understanding why anyone would oppose it.
 "If people only knew what they were avoiding, they would take the vaccine," Nova ICU nurse  Marika Kivelä  said.
 Language barriers
 Helsingin Sanomat  takes up the issue of continuing language barriers faced by many immigrants in the Finnish job market.
 In a feature article based on a survey carried out during the summer, the paper relates numerous examples from respondents of what they consider  unreasonable Finnish language proficiency requirements  during job searches.
 Nearly 550 immigrants responded to the survey, many of whom were actually fluent in Finnish. Many of those in the HS survey feel that demanding language requirements are not only about the need for Finnish, but also about the fact that companies are afraid to hire people from different backgrounds.
 Over half of the 720 suspected violations of workplace equality laws investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2020 related to foreign labour rights. Of these, some 60 concerned discrimination on the basis of origin, nationality or language.
 Of these, 26 were forwarded to police for criminal investigation. In most of these cases, the reason was a job advertisement that required Finnish as a mother tongue, "perfect" Finnish or an unreasonably high level of fluency.
 Lost in the Woods
 Close to three-quarters of Finland's land area is covered by forest, and  the Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet  carries a cautionary tale of how easy it is to get lost, especially at this time of year when darkness descends early and quickly.
 A family on a weekend outing in the forest in Satakunta lost their way in the dense woods and were unable to find their way once the dark closed in.
 Using the public emergency 112 phone app, they were able to contact authorities who the used a drone equipped with a thermal camera to locate them only about 100 metres from where they'd left their car.
 According to the police, the family was never any serious danger. However, in this case, police pointed out, they had the advantages of being warmly dressed, well-equipped and acting sensibly.
 Warmer weather, but also slippery roads
 Tampere's  Aamulehti  has photos of the dense fog that engulfed the city Sunday evening, and notes that the road administration Fintraffic has issued a warning of bad driving conditions in western parts of the country for Monday morning because of fog and icy road surfaces.
 The paper reports, though, that the Finnish Meteorological Institute is forecasting slightly warmer temperatures and mainly cloudy, grey autumn weather for the next few days.
 Iltalehti  writes that motorists in Finnish Lapland should prepare for extremely hazardous driving conditions as snowfall gives way to freezing rain.

Monday's papers: Push to ban workplace Covid passports, language barriers, lost in the woods


Summary: Greens MP Emma Kari, who takes over as environment minister this week, said that while climate conferences often end in disappointment, progress was still made.

Incoming Minister of the Environment and Climate Change  Emma Kari  (Green), considers the outcome of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, which ended this weekend, to be better than expected in some ways.
 Interviewed on Yle TV1 on Monday morning, Kari noted that while climate conferences often end in disappointment, progress is still being made.
 "More than 150 countries have made new climate commitments and plan to update their emission reduction targets. That's something, but not enough," Kari said.
 Kari stressed that the world is at a point in the climate crisis where action must go much further than at present. She pointed out that the fight against the crisis is taking place at all levels, including municipalities, companies and states.
 "That is why it is important to maintain Finland's policy aimed at limiting warming to 1.5 degrees" Celsius above pre-industrial levels, she told Yle.
 Based on the commitments made in Glasgow, global warming is estimated to rise by 2.4 degrees, well above what the parties committed to in the Paris Agreement of 2015. Finland has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2035.
 Handover on Friday
 Kari takes over as Environment Minister on Friday, as the Greens reshuffle their ministerial positions during party chair  Maria Ohisalo 's maternity leave. Kari will also take Ohisalo's seat among the cabinet's steering group of five party leaders, even though first-term MP  Iiris Suomela  will be the party's  interim chair  while Ohisalo is away.
 Current Environment Minister   Krista Mikkonen  will take over Ohisalo's Interior Ministry portfolio.
 Kari has been in Parliament since 2015, serving as the Greens delegation leader since early this year. She was an assistant to former environment minister and party chair  Ville Niinistö , and chair of the parliamentary environmental committee. Kari has been a Helsinki City Councillor since 2008.

Incoming Finnish environment minister on Glasgow climate deal: "Something, but not enough"


Summary: During the nationwide operation, police found amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis in various forms, but no fentanyl or heroin.

On Monday Finnish police reported a period of intensified surveillance of drug-related crime, carried out in early November. All police departments in the country took part in the sweep.
 They reported 140 suspected crimes directly connected with the illicit trade, use or production of drugs, 196 drug-use offenses and 13 aggravated drug offenses during the operation. In addition to these, 72 incidents of driving while under the influence were reported. The police also found 85 wanted individuals during the surveillance.
 Surveillance was also carried out online, with about 40 of the suspected crimes being online-assisted.
 "Cybercrime has increased in recent years and is also strongly reflected in drug-related crime. The police have developed their operations to help meet this challenge," Chief Superintendent  Teemu Saukoniemi  from the National Board of Police said in a statement.
 During the period of stepped-up surveillance, law enforcement officials seized 1.3 kilograms of amphetamine, eight kilos of marijuana, 900 grams of hashish, 365 cannabis plants and 135 grams of cocaine, as well as nearly 700 ecstasy tablets and about 2,000 other pills.
 No fentanyl or heroin found
 Fentanyl or its derivatives, which are still quite rare in Finland, were not found, nor was heroin. However, officials confiscated 100 tablets of Subutex (buprenorphine), which is used in opioid addiction therapy but also sold as a recreational street drug.
 Seventeen firearms were seized during the operation, along with more than 48,000 euros in cash.
 "Surveillance of drug-related crime often turns up other crimes as well. Firearms are unfortunately often encountered in policing today. This was seen once again during this intensified surveillance operation," Saukoniemi said.
 Police measures targeted 326 suspects, seven of whom were under the age of 18. Eighteen of them were first-time suspected drug offenders.
 Police departments may report local results of crackdown at their discretion.

Police drug sweep nets hundreds of suspected crimes, 85 wanted individuals


Summary: Hyneman's five-year term begins on Monday, and he is scheduled to visit LUT's Lappeenranta campus on Tuesday. His first lecture, "Peeling the Onion: How to Start Prototyping," is on Thursday.

LUT University's campus in eastern Finland has appointed US TV personality and inventor  Jamie Hyneman  as the institution's Professor of Practice for a five-year term.
 The often beret-wearing Hyneman, currently an inventor and product developer, is likely more widely known as the former co-host of the popular, science-based TV series MythBusters.
 "I'm truly honored by the appointment. I am happy to help LUT by contributing what I know about technology and business and am looking forward to future projects and challenges," Hyneman said in a statement issued by the university on Monday.
 Hyneman's five-year term begins on Monday, and he is scheduled to visit LUT's Lappeenranta campus on Tuesday. He is to give his first lecture, "Peeling the Onion: How to Start Prototyping," on Thursday.
 Jamie Hyneman talks to LUT University students in 2018. Petri Kivimäki /Yle
 This is not the first time Hyneman has engaged with the university, as he received an honorary doctorate from the institution in 2017. The interaction helped spark the creation of the Jamie Hyneman Center (JHC). Open to all LUT students and staff, the center's workshop helps participants "develop new ideas and solutions to problems and build and test prototypes," according to the university.
 "As a Professor of Practice, I plan to encourage and support student innovations at JHC. I also hope to participate in the university's activity on a wider scale. For instance, environmental issues and different types of vehicles are especially close to my heart. These are things I've been delighted to find that LUT and I are very much aligned with," Hyneman said in the statement.
 Associate Professor  Markku Ikävalko  said the collaboration of LUT University and Hyneman is "a good fit."
 "Hyneman is a bold entrepreneur and trailblazer who never tires of trying something new and developing the old. That's what we at LUT do every day," Ikävalko said.

LUT University appoints former MythBuster Hyneman as Professor of Practice


Summary: The price index was pushed up by costlier energy and home repairs.

Consumer prices rose by 3.2 percent year-on-year in October, Statistics Finland said on Monday. That was up from 2.5 percent in September. Inflation was driven by higher costs for energy and home repairs.
 The last time inflation in Finland was above three percent was in early 2012.
 Consumer prices were raised most in October by costlier repairs on detached houses, petrol, diesel, electricity and sales of detached houses compared to a year earlier.
 On the other hand, last month brought slightly lower prices for children’s day care, interest on housing loans and consumer credit, medical examinations and treatment fees, as well as lottery tickets and other games of chance.
 From September to October, consumer prices rose by eight tenths of a percent, primarily driven by higher electrical bills.
 Each month, Statistics Finland checks some 19,000 prices on nearly 400 commodities from approximately 2,100 outlets for its Consumer Price Index.
 "Production bottlenecks will continue"
 "There are no signs that rapid inflation in Finland will slow in the coming months, as energy is still expensive,"  Reijo Heiskanen , Chief Economist of the OP financial group, told the daily Helsingin Sanomat. "Much depends on what kinds of salary increases are agreed. According to our estimates, inflation will remain above two percent on average next year as well."
 "Energy will remain expensive and production bottlenecks will continue, so inflation will remain brisk for at least the next few months,"  Pasi Kuoppamäki , chief economist at the Finnish branch of Danske Bank, told the paper. "This is also supported by the fact that Statistics Finland mentions that the rise in the cost of renovations of detached houses has accelerated inflation. Inflation is likely to slow somewhat next year," he predicted.
 Meanwhile the EU's Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices suggested more modest inflation.
 According to its preliminary data, prices rose by 4.1 percent in October across the 19-member eurozone, but only by 2.8 percent in Finland.
 The EU index does not include owner-occupied housing, gambling and interest on credit, among other segments of consumer spending.

Inflation exceeds 3% for first time in nearly a decade


Summary: The company said it aims to expand its operations "through new acquisitions and organic growth."

Private health care firm Mehiläinen has acquired German hospital services company Dalberg Klinik, which operates near Frankfurt, marking the Finnish firm's first step into the German market.
 Mehiläinen, one of Finland's biggest private health care providers, said on Monday that the acquisition will garner the company a licence to offer public and private insurance-based health service in Germany, a market it said was valued at more than 400 billion euros nationwide.
 The firm added that the companies signed a share purchase agreement on 11 November and the transaction went into immediate effect.
 The company said it aims to expand its operations "through new acquisitions and organic growth," adding that it was in the process of certifying its e-health platform BeeHealthy for the German market.
 The firm said its German country manager,  Gerald Loos , was appointed to the post earlier this year.
 Earlier this year Mehiläinen said it was planning to acquire two Estonian health service firms.

Finnish health care firm Mehiläinen enters German market with acquisition


Summary: There are an estimated 4,000 migrants at the country's border with Poland. Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) said that pressure on Belarus needs to increase.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

At a meeting in Brussels to discuss the ongoing migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border, EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to expand sanctions on Belarus, which is believed to have transported the migrants to the border.
 Ahead of the meeting on Monday morning, Finnish foreign minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green) said that pressure on Belarus needs to increase.
 According to Poland, there were up to 4,000 people — many of whom are Kurds from Iraq — left stranded in freezing forests on its border, Reuters reported on Monday afternoon. The European Union has accused Minsk of prompting migrants to cross the Belarusian border into EU states, in retaliation for sanctions over human rights abuses.
 Story continues after photo
 Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Green). © Mario Salerno
 "It is clear that the European Union must react together to the threat posed by Belarus against its neighbours Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. What has happened is a shared problem," Haavisto said.
 In a previously unannounced military drill, Latvia deployed around 3,000 troops near its border with Belarus over the weekend, according to Reuters.
 While the ministers have agreed to expand sanctions against Belarus, the exact measures have not yet been specified.
 Yle correspondent: Tense but not dangerous
 Reporting from the Belarus border on Monday afternoon, Yle's Moscow correspondent,  Erkka Mikkonen , said the situation was tense but not dangerous.
 Mikkonen said he interviewed a group of Kurdish individuals who did not want their names or identities to be revealed.
 One of the interviewees said that Belarusian soldiers had forced migrants towards the Polish border crossing point, while another said he came to the border on his own will. One of the migrants said that the Belarusian troops promised them weapons that would help them penetrate the Polish border, according to Mikkonen.
 Meanwhile, Mikkonen said that among the thousands of demonstrating migrants at the border were families with children, even right by the border crossing point, where Polish troops were equipped with water cannon gear. Some of the migrants had tents while others slept on the asphalt in sleeping bags, he said.
 Haavisto praises Turkey, Iraq
 Ahead of the meeting the EU's top diplomat  Josep Borrell  said the sanctions will target airlines and travel agencies involved "in this illegal push of migrants."
 On Monday morning Haavisto said that he thought it was good news that Iraq had offered to organise return flights for Iraqi nationals who want to voluntarily return from Belarus.
 Haavisto also said he was thankful to Turkey for banning Syrian, Iraqi and Yemeni citizens from boarding flights headed to Belarus.
 "I would like to pay tribute to the responsible behaviour of Iraq and Turkey. It is clear to them their airlines and routes are being used to create hybrid pressure on the European Union," Haavisto said on Monday morning.
 The EU ministers are also discussing relations with its eastern neighbours, including Ukraine.
 Haavisto said Ukraine is very concerned about its economy and security.
 "Ukraine has raised concerns about the growing number of military movements on the Russian side," Haavisto said.
 Reuters reported that Lithuania and Latvia's presidents said their countries plan to join Poland if it decides to request emergency consultation from Nato under Article 4 of the military alliance's governing treaty
 Under Article 4, allies can request consultations when their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
 The difficult situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was also scheduled to be discussed at the Brussels meeting. Fears of a new conflict in the country have arisen in recent weeks as the country descended into its worst political crisis since the end of the war in the 1990s.
 This article was updated with comments and photo from Yle's Moscow correspondent in Belarus at 17:56 on 15 November 2021.

EU agrees to new sanctions on Belarus — Minister Haavisto calls for increased pressure


Summary: Less telecommuting and more in-office work may require relearning some very basic lessons and developing new routines.

A nationwide telecommuting recommendation  was lifted in Finland a month ago . With workers once again returning in growing numbers to their employers' premises, work routines and job atmosphere are also undergoing a rethinking.
 Yle asked Professor  Minna Huotilainen  of the University of Helsinki, a researcher into cognition and learning, what some of the keys to a successful return to the office might be.
 1. Community needs to be rebuilt
 During telecommuting, interaction among colleagues has been strongly work-centred and task-oriented. Coffee break chats and shared lunch breaks may have been missing for a year and a half. This has had an impact.
 "Telecommuting creates [a sense of] isolation. I believe that people have missed each other," Huotilainen points out.
 She says that when returning to full-time or part-time work in common spaces, it is important to think about different ways in which people are genuinely brought together in work communities.
 On the other hand, there are likely to be new employees who have not worked face to face with their colleagues at all. These new employees may not feel like part of the work community and under these changed conditions previous methods used to integrate newcomers may not be effective.
 "One example of a well-functioning system could be a workplace breakfast to which everyone is expected to come," Huotilainen suggests.
 Before the coronavirus pandemic and the widespread introduction of telecommuting, there were rarely days that included solely work tasks with no lighter interaction between co-workers. Physical presence makes human interaction much richer than it can be over the net.
 "Just the way a co-worker walks into a conference room, slams his laptop down on the table and sits down, says a lot about what kind of mood he is in today," points out Huotilainen.
 In the office, there is always time to exchange a word or two before any meeting. It gives a chance for a bit of socialising, to ask how someone is, to talk over matters not directly related to work. This kind of interaction is important for humans.
 "This shows mutual acceptance, that I am interested in you and I am your co-worker. For this not to happen comes at a price," Huotilainen explains.
 2. Work practices need development
 According to Huotilainen, telecommuting allows getting the work done, but building a work community and further developing the way things are done have fallen by the wayside, as there has been no natural space in which to talk casually about work.
 She says workplaces need people working together to develop skills as partners and mentors.
 "Concrete work tasks are a matter of organisation, but bringing the work community together is much more challenging," she stresses.
 Huotilainen believes that many work communities want to see more days devoted to development when everyone comes in and discusses the future and makes plans.
 There has also been a lot of meeting overkill, and employees need better-organised meetings.
 "People have become much more demanding during this period. We think about our own use of time in more detail and that is a good thing," Huotilainen says.
 3. Set rules on interruptions
 Well before the emergence of the coronavirus and the widespread shift to telecommuting, it was recognised that interruptions slow work down and increase the probability of errors.
 "If you are used to working in silence for a year and a half now, and return to an open plan office, the noise may seem much louder than before you started telecommuting," she notes.
 While working off-site, most people have learned to rely on instant messaging, email, video conferencing, or traditional phone calls to ask questions. An answer came when the other party had the time to respond.
 "I think employees are more demanding in terms of peaceful surroundings after having had the experience of what uninterrupted work is like," she says.
 When working in closer quarters again, it's worthwhile giving more thought to when and how to interrupt others.
 Huotilainen points out that people don't necessarily want to be a bother, but they do want to get answers. Every work community needs to think about what communication channels are now most appropriate, where questions can be answered when the time is right.
 On the other hand, returning to the employer's premises can reduce the number of interruptions for those who have had a lot of family members around while working at home.
 4. Agree on the mix
 A new phenomenon at many workplaces may also be widespread resistance to a return to the office since certain jobs have been done more successfully at home. One answer employers are turning to is  a hybrid work plan .
 "It has been asked for a long time which space is best suited for any specific task. Now, we have the basis, I think, to answer that," says cognition and learning researcher Huotilainen.
 Some employees get more work done at home, some at the office. According to Huotilainen, it is important to note when it is really necessary to be present at work, and which meetings it is appropriate to participate in.
 "There may be new ways to arrange common telecommuting days and office days. Could one team be at work on Mondays and another on Tuesdays?" Huotilainen suggests.
 She further suggests that even when working again on-site, the working day could be split into two four-hour periods, with a few hours in between to go outside or do something else relaxing.
 "In my opinion, the lessons learned during telecommuting are solid ones for job development when we take notice of them and start using them in working life," Huotilainen sums up.

Changing gears – Four points to consider when returning to the office


Summary: Morning papers report that rising coronavirus infection rates for the unvaccinated includes a surge among young children.

The tabloid  Iltalehti  quotes HUS Chief Physician  Asko Järvinen  as saying that at present, the risk of  coronavirus infection  faced by the unvaccinated is higher than ever, and he called for tight restrictions to be applied to people who have not yet taken the vaccine.
 Speaking on Monday, Järvinen did point out, though, that the biggest factor an infection developing into a life-threatening disease is advanced age. According to Järvinen, the median age of those who have died from the coronavirus is 82.
 New drugs have yielded promising results, but Järvinen stated that the problem with these treatments is that the drugs should be taken at an early stage when many patients are not even aware that they have been infected.
 Surge among kids
 Ilta-Sanomat  meanwhile reports that new cases of infection among children under the age of 10 are higher than in any other age group.
 It writes that of the coronavirus infections reported on Monday, 614 were children aged 0–10. The second highest number of infections was in the 11–20 age group, where 605 infections were reported.
 Paediatric Infectious Disease Physician  Tea Nieminen  of the HUS New Children's Hospital points out that infections are now spreading among those who have not been vaccinated, and under-12 year-olds are a large part of this group.
 Vaccinations for 12 to 15 year-olds began in August, but the vaccine has not been made available to children under 12. It is not yet known when vaccination of younger children may be started.
 Although children's infections have been on the rise, Nieminen told the paper that this has not been reflected in children's emergency services. HUS currently has no children receiving treatment for a coronavirus infection.
 No workplace passport requirement this year
 Last week, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) announced that the use of the Covid passport, showing vaccination and/or testing status,  could potentially be extended  to workplaces.
 Iltalehti writes  that many larger employers in Finland such as shipyards and the construction industry, which use a lot of foreign labor, have had problems due to consistently high infection rates among workers. Employers have hoped to be able to require employees to have a Covid passport to alleviate the situation.
 According to this paper, if a passport requirement is imposed, it will not be happening before the end of the year.
 Mirka-Tuulia Kuoksa , a lawyer at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, told Iltalehti that although the issue is being examined in connection with extending the use of the Covid passport it requires such extensive preparation that it is unlikely to come before Parliament before the Christmas recess.
 Trans law considerations
 Helsingin Sanomat  notes that Parliament is currently  discussing a citizens' initiative  calling for reform of Finland's transgender legislation, and in this context asks why officials even need to know a person's gender.
 In answer, it reviews some of the other legislation that may be impacted by amendments to transgender law.
 The most obvious is the law on conscription. At present, only men are conscripted in Finland and conscription is based on the legal gender.
 In addition to conscription, another major piece of legislation that uses information about gender is the Equality Act. This includes statistical and reporting obligations based on gender. For example, the law stipulates that state committees, advisory boards and other similar bodies must have at least 40 percent representation of both women and men.
 There are also, for example, laws or regulations in force that provide separate facilities according to gender. Laws on legal detention and prison facilities contain provisions that men and women must be kept in separate spaces.
 And, the paper points out, the law on maternity benefits specifies that it is women that receive a maternity allowance from state funds.
 Russians positive about Finland
 Kuopio's Savon Sanomat  is among the papers reporting that a fresh poll commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs shows that the majority of Russians still have a positive attitude towards Finland.
 Of the some 1,800 Russians who responded to the survey, 68 percent said they have a positive or very positive attitude towards Finland. That was down slightly from 71 percent in a similar survey two years ago.
 65 per cent of Russians describe relations between Finland and Russia as good.
 The most famous Finn in the survey was the actor  Ville Haapasalo , who has made his film career in Russia. He was recognized by almost a quarter of respondents. In second place, at 14 percent, was Finland's wartime commander and post-war president  Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim  and in third, at 13 percent was former racing driver  Mika Häkkinen .
 Only one percent of the respondents recognized the name of the current president of Finland,  Sauli Niinistö .

Tuesday's papers: Unvaccinated most at risk, trans law reforms, and a poll suggests Russians just love Finland


Summary: The 1.6km tunnel planned for the Sörnäinen district has become a contentious political issue.

Helsinki's City Board had been expected to approved a plan for a new traffic tunnel costing close to 180 million euros and pass the project along to the City Council on Monday.
 Instead, Social Democratic Party representatives pushed through a postponement and called for an in-depth study of the impact of the project on traffic flows in the city.
 Deputy Mayor  Nasima Razmyar  (SDP), said the construction of the tunnel should be viewed as an important part of the wider traffic planning of the city, and was surprised by a recent debate in which it has been seen as a separate project from the rest of the city’s traffic planning.
 The tunnel plan has led to a heated political dispute with the Greens and the Left Alliance strongly opposing the project which has the backing of other parties in city government.
 Razmyar justified the SDP's move for a postponement on the grounds that the tunnel has been criticised, among other reasons, for greatly increasing car traffic. She noted that, according to official city reports, vehicle traffic would become impossible in the area if the tunnel were not built.
 "This must now definitely be clarified, " she said.
 Razmyar added that numerous other projects are planned for the area that depend on the construction of the tunnel.
 Construction of the controversial tunnel has been scheduled to begin as early as next year. The 1.6-kilometre tunnel planned in Sörnäinen would is intended to facilitate north-south traffic, especially in the expanding Kalasatama district.
 There are currently about 8,000 residents in the Kalasatama district. With the completion of construction in the area, around the end of the 2030s, it is expected to have about 30,000 inhabitants and more than 10,000 jobs.
 The current cost estimate for the tunnel is approximately 180 million euros. If the project is approved and moves ahead as planned it could be opened for traffic in the early 2030s.

Decision on Helsinki tunnel project postponed


Summary: The proposal could help employees who suspect pay discrimination.

A working group looking to close Finland's gender pay gap has proposed changes to the law to allow employees who suspect discrimination to find out how much their colleagues get paid.
 They would be required to keep the information confidential, once they had received it.
 Employee representatives would also get access to pay data under the proposals, which would require employers to explain their pay structure to employees once a year.
 The proposal is a result of the government's goal to improve gender equality as written in the government programme, and was presented to the Minister for Nordic Co-operation and Equality  Thomas Blomqvist  (SPP) on Monday.
 The proposal was criticised by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) as 'neither one thing nor the other', and by labour movement representatives as not going far enough to advance pay transparency.
 Unions were unhappy that the proposals would not apply to employers with fewer than 30 employees. A business lobby group, meanwhile, expressed concerns about workers' privacy.

Working group: Employees should have right to know colleagues' salaries, if they suspect discrimination


Summary: Finnish universities have agreed on a major overhaul of national entrance examinations.

The vice-rectors of universities in Finland have have mapped out changes to national entrance examinations that will see future testing digitised, changed in content and significantly reduced in number.
 Exams in several fields of study in the common selection process will launch electronic exams as early as next spring.
 Entrance examinations in medical fields, biomedicine, biochemistry and molecular biology, as well as psychology and speech therapy, will be conducted in digital form, on a trial basis, for the first time.
 The tests were held digitally last spring in the fields of education, biology and environmental sciences, pharmacy, geography, forestry, and computer science.
 Fewer exams
 The number of examinations is also to be reduced as the current system is overly cumbersome for both applicants and universities. Since numerous entrance examinations test the same knowledge and skills, combining examinations will lighten the admission process.
 Also, the role of entrance examinations as part of student admissions has changed, as approximately half of new students are certificate-based admissions. The criteria for certificate-based admissions are being reviewed, but the current criteria will remain valid at least up until spring 2025.

University entrance exams to be digitised and more streamlined


Summary: Among other assurances, the opposition wants to make sure Finland can suspend the processing of asylum applications under certain circumstances.

On Tuesday Parliamentary opposition parties formally announced they were seeking a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister  Sanna Marin 's (SDP) coalition government, calling into question the country's preparedness to deal with hybrid threats.
 The interpellation was prompted by the ongoing situation at Belarus' borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, where thousands of migrants have gathered in order to enter the European Union. According to Finland and the EU, the mass migration is a hybrid operation by Belarus in protest of EU sanctions.
 According to the opposition parties, Finland is ill-prepared for a large-scale arrival of migrants. The parties include the Finns Party, the National Coalition Party, the Christian Democrats and the Movement Now party. The parties first raised the matter last week during Parliamentary question time.
 At a press conference on Tuesday, the parties called for emergency clauses to be added to the Aliens Act on how Finland could suspend accepting asylum applications, and if necessary, how the country could temporarily close its borders.
 "The answer that the asylum process must always be carried out is not adequate. Many EU countries have emergency clauses and other options. These countries are party to the same international agreements as Finland, so we must also have the opportunity to take asylum policy into our own hands," said  Riikka Purra , leader of the Finns Party.
 'Making sure Finland is prepared'
 The parties' motion criticised ministers for contradictory statements about the hybrid threat, seeking clarification about the government's position.
 Interior minister  Maria Ohisalo  (Green) has said that if a situation like the one on the Polish or Lithuanian border arises along the Finnish border, Finland should only keep a single border crossing point open to process asylum applications.
 Foreign minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green) has said that current legislation already allows for Finland to  close its borders  due to hybrid threats.
 The government has also raised the possibility of making reforms to the country's emergency laws in order to better respond to hybrid threats, but the opposition has said it wants to know what is actually being done in that regard.
 The chair of the opposition National Coalition Party,  Kai Mykkänen , said his party was taking part in the interpellation in order to make sure Finland is prepared.
 "The interpellation is a tool that enables us to ensure that the government is reviewing the emergency legislation, as it promised it would last week. We are demanding that the government implements [the legislation] so that asylum applications can be suspended for a certain period of time in a situation where the asylum application process shifts from [people actually] seeking asylum to a way of exerting pressure on Finland," Mykkänen said.
 The government  survived  a confidence vote about its immigration policy less than a month ago. In particular, that motion pointed to planned policy changes to the granting of asylum based on family reunification.

Opposition parties call for heightened preparedness at the border


Summary: Customers are urged to sort their tax issues before Thursday afternoon.

The Tax Administration's online OmaVero service is to be offline for several days due to a systems upgrade.
 The outage starts at 3:30pm on Thursday and ends at midday on Monday, according to the agency, during which time users won't be able to log in to pay tax bills, change tax cards or conduct other business.
 Even employees won't be able to access data or systems, and therefore even those attending service points won't be able to get a new tax card or any other tax services.
 Users are advised to get any pressing tax matters sorted before the break in service starts. A  limited phone service  will be available on Friday, offering general advice but no specific help on individual tax matters.
 "The operational logic will change a little," said Joona Jarva, the OmaVero product owner at the Tax Administration.
 The new service is expected to function better on smartphones and tablets.

OmaVero tax service down for four days


Summary: The size of gatherings in Uusimaa is to be restricted.

Uusimaa is to see new restrictions on gatherings announced on Thursday and in force a week later, as the region centred on Helsinki struggles to deal with an upsurge in Covid cases.
 The Regional Administrative Agency (Finnish acronym Avi) for Southern Finland is preparing the details of the restrictions because the capacity of hospitals to cope with their workload is currently under strain in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district.
 The region's Covid response co-ordination group has proposed new restrictions to try and slow the spread of the epidemic.
 The Avi says it is evaluating the expert opinion and will decide the extent and severity of restrictions, but it is possible that they will limit capacity to a certain percentage of the full capacity.
 However, event organisers that implement the Covid pass regime at the door can avoid having to restrict their events.
 The new measures are expected to be announced on Thursday 18 November and to come into force a week later, on 25 November.

Uusimaa to restrict indoor gatherings as Covid cases escalate


Finland's National Agency for Education says that a gap is evident in the reading skills of children and teens. This is being reflected in the fact that some primary school children are able to read long texts with little effort and assess the reliability of online sources, while there are others still experiencing difficulty with reading in upper secondary school.
 One of the goals of a new national literacy strategy being published on Tuesday is to address this trend towards differentiation and to offset the effects of factors affecting literacy. These include home background, personal learning difficulties, and time spent reading outside of school.
 According to the National Agency for Education, the level of literacy of Finns on average is good, but competence varies in all age groups. The literacy of young people in particular has clearly declined over the past two decades. According to  the 2018 Pisa results , almost 14 percent of young Finns have insufficient reading skills to comfortably cope with everyday situations. The reading skills of young people have declined especially in those groups where parents or guardians have only a primary education, or where the appreciation of learning and culture is low.
 Need to evaluate media sources
 The new strategy now being launched aims to improve the overage media literacy skills of the Finns. This means a better ability to interpret a range of communication, including images, statistics and texts, and to assess their reliability, source and forms of expression.
 The goal is to make Finland's population the most media literate in the world by 2030.
 According to the National Agency for Education, this type of multi-faceted literacy will help prevent social exclusion and increases the ability to function in modern society.
 "As society changes, so do the requirements for literacy. We want to keep everyone involved, and therefore multi-literacy must be maintained and developed in everyday life, work and studies," says Minister of Education  Li Andersson  (Left) in a press release on the subject.
 One way to move towards this target is to further train teachers, healthcare and library professionals. Particular attention is to be given to literacy in Finnish or Swedish as a second language, education in integration, the teaching of the mother tongue of pupils with an immigrant background, and multilingual teaching.

New strategy aims at closing childhood literacy gap in Finland


Summary: Investigators are planning to return to the wreck site next spring.

The reasons why the MS Estonia ferry sank in the frigid Baltic Sea 27 years ago, killing more than 850 people, were partially answered by investigators of the tragedy on Tuesday, but they said no conclusions about the disaster could yet be reached.
 A new probe into the accident that was carried out over the summer by teams from Estonia, Sweden and Finland found that the holes in the ferry's hull might have been caused by the ship hitting undersea rock, but investigators said the site needs more examination.
 The probe — led by the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau, Swedish accident investigators and Stockholm University — was prompted by a relatively recent  documentary  about the accident which uncovered a previously-unseen hole in the ship's hull.
 They said that bedrock protruded in several places on the seafloor in the area around where the ship sank, and that finding the rock formations was one of the most significant made during the probe.
 This summer, the investigators used an underwater ROV drone robot, sonar and other technologies to scan the wreck and its surroundings for a period of eight days in July, mostly to examine the exterior of the ship and seabed.
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 Researchers analyse the wreck and the surrounding seabed in July 2021. Stefan Jerrevang / EPA / AOP
 At a press conference in Tallinn, Estonia on Tuesday, the manager of the Estonian Safety Investigation Bureau,  Rene Arikas , said the researchers were unable to survey all parts of the ship, as it was not possible to reach further into the car deck because it was too hazardous for the equipment being used.
 The official accident investigation that wrapped up in 1997 found that the visor at the ship's bow, which enabled vehicles to enter and exit the ferry, had detached from the vessel and allowed sea water to fill the car deck, causing the ferry to sink.
 The new probe found the ship's visor lying on the bottom of the sea, next to the shipwreck, completely separated from the vessel.
 "At the moment, there are no grounds to claim that the conclusions of the 1997 investigation were incorrect," Arikas said on Tuesday.
 However, he characterised last summer's investigation as a preliminary one.
 Arikas said among other things, the ferry's car deck will be looked at more closely in the spring using more appropriate gear.
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 Surveying gear being deployed to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in July, during an investigation surrounding the sinking of the Estonia ferry in 1993. Stefan Jerrevang / EPA / AOP
 Arikas noted that the team is also planning to re-interview survivors of the accident, as the interviews conducted in the years after the tragedy were not of very high quality.
 "Not all of the survivors were even interviewed. Others were addressed very superficially," he said.
 On a voyage from Tallinn to Stockholm, in the middle of the night on 28 September 1994, the Estonia sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in Finnish waters in less than an hour. The tragedy claimed 852 lives, making it one of the world's worst maritime disasters of that century.

Rocky seabed surprised investigators but cause of rupture in MS Estonia still uncertain


Summary: Finnish media highlighted the challenges faced by the HUS district, which has limited capacity for ICU patients

The hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) has begun transferring Covid-19 patients requiring critical care to other parts of Finland due to a lack of capacity, according to  Helsingin Sanomat .
 HUS is currently setting up six intensive care units in addition to its existing 15 to keep up with the growing demand.
 Jari Petäjä , acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of HUS, told Helsingin Sanomat that the decision to transfer patients outside the district was made on Tuesday after estimates indicated that the current intensive care capacity would be exceeded soon.
 Hospital authorities put the critical limit for intensive care patients at 15 and the number of patients had already reached 14 on Tuesday.
 "If we end up with 16 to 21 patients in the ICU, we will have to cancel four to five major surgeries that require post-operative intensive care every day," Petäjä said.
 One intensive care patient has reportedly already been transferred to another part of the country, while two more critical Covid patients are expected to be moved to hospitals outside the HUS district on Wednesday.
 Interview with Finnish paper cinches Capitol attacker's punishment
 Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that US Capitol rioter  Kevin Cordon  has been sentenced to one year of probation.
 The newspaper conducted a brief interview with the 34-year-old, who was covered with blood, soon after he and several other Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington in January.
 Prosecutors cited the interview, in which Cordon allegedly showed no remorse about entering the building through a broken window, as grounds for a one-month jail sentence, according to Courthouse News Service.
 Cordon received probation instead, after a federal judge said it was unusual for a first-time offender to receive prison time for a non-violent misdemeanor.
 In his interview with Ilta-Sanomat, Cordon, who was wearing a bloodied American flag as a cape, stated that it was clear to Trump supporters that the election had been stolen. "We're here to take back our democratic republic," he said.
 The interview was brought to the attention of American authorities after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received an anonymous tip from an Ilta-Sanomat reader.
 Municipalities apply for Covid-19 compensation
 Estimates by news group Uutissuomalinen indicate that around 230 municipalities and hospital districts in Finland have already applied to receive compensation from the state for social and healthcare costs incurred due to the Covid-19 crisis.
 The first application round for the financial support ended last Friday. According to  Kalle Tervo , Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, authorities expected the number of applications to be a bit higher.
 However, several municipalities have transferred their right to apply to municipality associations and regional authorities.
 The first application round was for Covid-related expenses incurred during January–August. The second round, which will begin at the beginning of 2022, is expected to cover expenses for the rest of this year.
 Preliminary estimates suggest that Covid-19 testing and contact tracing account for the vast majority of costs borne by municipalities.

Wednesday's papers: Overloaded ICU transfers, Finnish paper helps convict US Capitol rioter and municipalities seek Covid compensation


Summary: Kasvi served for years as an MP and was also well known for his pioneering work on information society and digital policies.

Jyrki Kasvi , a former Finnish MP, journalist and information technology researcher has died at the age of 57. Kasvi, who served as the MP for the Green League in 2003–11 and again in 2015–19, was considered a pioneer in the field of information society.
 Born in 1964, Kasvi died on Tuesday after a long battle with bladder cancer. He was first diagnosed with the disease in 2003.
 A former research scientist and gaming journalist, Kasvi authored several books on computers and information society—a term that describes a society where the creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant economic and cultural activity.
 His death drew tributes from numerous Green party leaders, including Secretary General  Veli Liikanen , who described him as "a driving force for the Greens" in his roles as an MP and a city council member in Espoo, as well as an "influential member of the organisation."
 Green Party Leader  Maria Ohisalo  noted Kasvi's "invaluable contribution" to Finland's information security and digital policy, and his groundbreaking work in the fields of security, transparency and equality.
 An association dedicated to Kasvi's life and works was set up this spring. The stated purpose of the organisation is to promote digitalisation and the introduction and regulation of new and innovative technologies. It also seeks to establish a foundation in Kasvi's name.

Green party leaders mourn loss of former MP Jyrki Kasvi


Summary: A 2-0 home defeat to the world champions means Finland finish in third place in the group and miss out on the play-off stage by just one point.

The Finnish national football team's hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup finals in Qatar were dashed on Tuesday evening by a 2-0 defeat to world champions France at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.
 The defeat means the  Huuhkajat  (or Eagle Owls) finish in third place in qualifying Group D, missing out on advancing to the next stage by just one place and one point.
 Instead, Ukraine — whose 2-1 victory in Helsinki in September has proved to be pivotal — will contest for a place in the finals in the play-off round next March.
 Finland were in second place in the group going into the last round of fixtures on Tuesday, but needed to beat France to guarantee a place in the play-offs. Failing that, Finnish fans were hoping that Ukraine would not be able to win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group's other game on Tuesday evening.
 With one hour played in both games, Finland's dream of qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time ever was still on track, until everything changed in the course of fifteen dramatic minutes.
 Firstly,  Oleksandr Zinchenko  gave Ukraine the lead against Bosnia and Herzegovina — meaning Finland would now have to win against France. Within five minutes of Zinchenko's goal in Zenica, Real Madrid's  Karim Benzema  scored for France in Helsinki.
 Kylian Mbappe  then added a fantastic second for France, two minutes before substitute  Artem Dovbyk  scored again for Ukraine.
 Both games finished on a scoreline of 2-0 to the visiting team, meaning France finish on top of the group with 18 points, Ukraine are in second on 12 points with Finland in third on 11.

France end Finland's World Cup 2022 dreams


Summary: One of the experts says that it is more important to vaccinate children against the virus, adding that could start happening as early as next month.

Finland is in no hurry to broadly roll out third Covid vaccine booster shots, as two jabs already protects the majority of the population from severe complications caused by the virus.
 That's the opinion of chief physician  Hanna Nohynek  from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), and  Sally Leskinen , the chief medical officer at the Kanta-Häme hospital district.
 About a week ago, health care workers across the country achieved the government's goal of vaccinating 80 percent of the population over the age of 12.
 Leskinen said that at this point it is more important that young children between the ages of 5-11 get vaccinated, noting that infections also affect schools and daycare centres.
 She told Yle's A-studio programme on Tuesday evening that even if adults get two or three jabs, infections are still possible at home due to unvaccinated youngsters.
 The National Advisory Committee on Vaccines (Krar) is considering whether to start vaccinating kids in the 5-11 age group early next month. According to Nohynek, who also participated in the current affairs show, Krar is working hard to gather information about children's illnesses, infections and the spread of infections.
 However, Nohynek emphasised that the safety of the vaccine for this age group needs to be confirmed before it rolls out.
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 Hanna Nohynek Jari Kovalainen / Yle
 "The vaccine must also be of sufficient benefit to the child, in relation to the harms it could cause," she said.
 Children in some Asian countries and the United States have already received Covid vaccination, but Finland's rollout of the jabs to youngsters depends on recommendations and market authorisation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
 Nohynek: Base rate bias in play
 So far, about 4.2 million people in Finland have been vaccinated against Covid. About 28,000 of those were infected with the virus after receiving either their first or second doses. However, authorities expected this, as no vaccine provides 100 percent protection.
 In a separate interview, Nohynek told Yle that there are several reasons why vaccinated people are increasingly being infected by coronavirus.
 "One is that the effectiveness of the vaccine against infection and mild [Covid] cases almost halves after six months. In those who get infected and get mild symptoms despite being vaccinated, it is due to this reduction in protective antibodies over time," Nohynek explained.
 "Those who become seriously ill [from a coronavirus infection] and end up in hospital often have an underlying illness. Their ability to be protected by vaccines is not as good as in younger, healthier people. In these cases the worsening of the underlying illness caused by the coronavirus infection is the reason for hospitalisation," she said.
 "The third reason is that as more people are vaccinated, the more likely it is there will be breakthrough cases among vaccinated individuals," Nohynek explained, noting that the term for this phenomenon is known as the statistical "base rate bias," similar to the false positive paradox.
 Regarding the duration of protection among the double-dosed population, Nohynek said it largely depends on the interval between the two doses.
 Double-dose effectiveness
 "Canadians have done good research on the subject. Their study compared the effectiveness of doses given at different intervals, and comparisons were done for 3-4 weeks, 6-7 weeks, 8-9 weeks, and so on up to a 16-week interval," she said.
 "The results showed that the vaccine provided 90 percent protection against severe complications for up to eight months among people whose doses were administered at least 12 weeks apart. We do not yet know how long the that level of protection will be sustained," Nohynek said.
 Finnish health authorities have not yet made a decision about administering third booster vaccine doses to people under the age of 60, but the chief physician said there are indications of benefits from third doses.
 "The research results from Israel look good. After the third vaccination, it was found that people's antibody responses multiplied and the effect of the vaccine provided enhanced protection against the risk of requiring hospitalisation and ICU treatment, as well as death. The number of infections also decreased significantly. But how long their effectiveness remains at a good level is not yet known," she said.

Chief docs: Finland in no hurry to roll out Covid boosters


Summary: While scammers often target elderly people, young adults have also fallen victim.

Online scammers have conned victims in Finland out of 33 million euros so far this year, according to Finnish police. This is a new record, topping the estimated 25 million euros fraudsters bilked from victims last year.
 Victims have reportedly been targeted with a wide variety of online hoaxes, including romance scams, whereby criminals adopt a fake identity to win the trust of their target.
 Other methods used by fraudsters to get people to part with their money include impersonating a relative or a police officer.
 Several people in Finland have also fallen victim to investment scams involving cryptocurrency, fraudulent text messages or emails claiming to be from a bank or national mail carrier Posti, as well as through fake versions of existing websites.
 "There were a total of about 2,300 cases of online fraud whereby people were tricked into losing money this year, and the financial losses amounted to around 33 million euros—quite a significant sum," Superintendent  Tuomas Pöyhönen  of the National Police Board said.
 When taking into account items that people ordered online but never received, such as concert tickets and other merchandise, the total number of fraud victims would rise to about 20,000.
 According to police, a number of senior citizens and young adults, particularly students, have lost all their savings to online scams.
 "Those who fall in the 70–79 age bracket make up the majority of victims, that is, about 25 percent. The next highest number—20 percent of the victims—are aged 60–70, but there is a steady rise in the number of scams targeting men and women aged 20 and above," Pöyhönen added.
 Users are unable to distinguish between fake and authentic websites
 Email and SMS scams are especially effective when the victim is in a hurry, as they use language and terminology that appear official and are reminiscent of the organisation that they impersonate.
 Last summer, police warned against a  phishing scam  that convinced people to share personal information such as online banking details on fake websites that closely resemble real banking websites.
 As it can be difficult to distinguish between fraudulent and genuine websites, customers are recommended to use the bank's mobile app or bookmarked pages instead.
 Fraudsters have even developed a way to effectively impersonate the post office as a means of targeting online shoppers.
 "A message that states "we were unable to deliver your package, click here" will appear on your phone. If you have previously received a package via the post office, the scam message will appear in the same thread so it seems like it was sent from the actual source. Unfortunately, criminals now have the technology and the know-how to make this possible," Pöyhönen said.
 The fear of being scammed often deters customers from using legitimate online services offered by banks, shops and other service providers.
 While this encourages companies and operators to make their services safer, Pöyhönen says he believes that users also need to be vigilant.
 He recommends contacting the bank immediately in case of a suspected scam so that the account can be blocked or frozen.
 "It is also worth informing those close to you about what has happened," he added.

Finns lose record €33m to online scammers in 2021


Summary: The policy is contained in the EU's Climate Delegated Act and part of the EU's classification system, also known as the EU taxonomy.

Finland intends to vote against the EU's Climate Delegated Act over concerns about the criteria outlined in the proposal for forest management.
 The Act is part of the EU's classification system, also known as the EU taxonomy, which establishes a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities.
 Parliament's Ministerial Committee on European Union Affairs indicated the intention to vote against the proposal following a meeting on Wednesday morning, but Finland's official position will be finalised at a later date by Parliament's Grand Committee.
 In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the government welcomed the objective of the delegated act but expressed concerns that aspects of the proposal "are difficult to understand and open to interpretation".
 "The ambiguity of the criteria could lead to a situation where forestry would be excluded from the taxonomy, which would make it more difficult to access funding for forestry investments," the statement said, adding that the specific details concerning forestry management should remain within the control of each member state.
 The criteria contained in the draft delegated act has also raised concerns within the Finnish forest industry.
 The taxonomy regulation has already been passed by the European Parliament, and will be voted on by the EU Council of Ministers later this year.
 Greens, Left oppose committee's position
 In a joint statement released later on Wednesday, government coalition partners the Green Party and the Left Alliance indicated that they are opposed to the line suggested by the parliamentary committee.
 "We believe that the line pushing for the repeal of the delegated act is detrimental to Finland's interests as well as climate policy," Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green) and Minister of Education  Li Andersson  (Left) said in a joint statement.
 Both parties further emphasised that the purpose of the taxonomy regulation is to establish criteria for managing funding in a climate-sustainable way.
 "The policy of voting against the act would have a negative impact on the implementation of Finland's and the EU's climate goals and the obligations outlined in the Paris [Climate] Agreement," the statement continued, adding that opposing the act will not benefit Finland's advocacy work in the EU and may in fact jeopardise Finland's other national interests.
 Green party chair  Maria Ohisalo  also responded to the committee's announcement on Wednesday, writing that "Finland is on the wrong side of development with regard to the taxonomy of sustainable EU financing, that curbs climate change and biodiversity loss".
 In a separate interview with Yle, Ohisalo said she was surprised that the government cannot reach consensus on this issue.
 "We are amazed that common ground was not found here within the government when considering the agreements on climate action and biodiversity loss in the government programme," Ohisalo said, adding that she found it "regrettable" that parliament would oppose the taxonomy in the interests of the forestry industry.
 According to Yle's information, the Greens and the Left Alliance intend to vote against the committee's proposal in the Grand Committee, when Finland's official position is finalised.
 Finland rarely votes against the majority's view at the EU level.

Finland to vote against EU's forestry policy due to 'ambiguities'