After the UK vote in favor of the Brexit, panic seems to emerge on the Finnish economic playing field: according to YLE, on the first day of trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange since Thursday’s vote, shares sank about six… Read More ›
International
EKOenergy, the Finnish NGO pushing Europe to buy eco-labeled green electricity
Finland is not only its government, it is also a complex society of actors, some of them being particularly successful or interesting. Here is one of Finland’s successes. Once upon a time (in fact in 2010), 8 NGOs from… Read More ›
Refugees: a flaw in the Finnish democracy?
There has been a strange happening in Finland these last days: the Parliament held an excellent debate on the limitation of family reunification for refugees, and there was almost no media coverage, even if it was quite interesting. And, against… Read More ›
US Elections seen From The Nordic Countries: How Would We Vote?
It is generally surprising – and even sometimes frightening – to follow the American elections from Finland, considering what the candidates are saying and planning. But it is quite fun to consider what is said from the point of view… Read More ›
The asylum policy should be made more sensible, by Osmo Soininvaara
The discussion about the refugee situation is so infected that the issue cannot be discussed in public almost at all. The issue is not either at all helped by the so called immigrant critics
Pope Francis’ encyclical: the strongest text of the 21st century about the need to act on the environment, and the inequalities that the present situation entails
After the visit of the pope to the US and the UN, we have extracted some significant part of his encyclical, which are representing beautifully what one can deeply feel about how our world is going on a wrong path. We can also ask our governments why they are not doing more for protecting what Francis nicely calls “our common home”
Refugees: will the Finnish government’s position be dictated by Juha Sipilä or by Timo Soini? Will it be aligned on Angela Merkel or on Viktor Orban?
When the Finnish Prime Minister opens his own house to refugees, Angela Merkel opens boldly Germany’s borders to the Syrian refugees, followed with some reluctance by Francois Hollande in France and David Cameron in the UK. Will Finland follow the… Read More ›
Addressing the Greek crisis after the “no”: how to be fair with the Greeks, but also with the Finnish and the EU taxpayers?
Even if the referendum was an act of democracy, even if the EU has proven that it is not able to handle a crisis efficiently, even if we can have sympathy for the Greek citizens, there will not be a… Read More ›
The rising temperature of the eurozone, by Paavo Arhinmäki
It seems a common misconception among the Finns that the separation of Greece from the eurozone would solve its current problems, when in truth, an uncontrolled separation and the country’s insolvency would cause not just an even bigger humanitarian crisis in Greece but also deeply affect the economies of all EU countries.
Historians without borders, by Erkki Tuomioja
Erkki Tuomioja, former Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, launches an interesting international initiative, which may serve to improve the present by looking at the past. All details in Finnish and English on his blog In today’s world we should be… Read More ›
Finland Politics 