100 posts
Finnish legislative framework for the 800MHz auction, near to completion
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"Legislative amendments required by spectrum auction in the 800 MHz frequency band are near completion. The Government submitted a bill on the matter for approval to the President of the Republic on Thursday 1 November. The President is expected t...
Political Risk in Systemic Risk: Finnish Pensions Err in Debt Crisis
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Finland became a state in the European Union in 1995 and adopted the euro at its birth in 1999. In terms of population, the state is between Wisconsin and Minnesota, both of which are states in the United States. The Finnish culture prizes saving as...
Sep. '12 updt: Finnish Government adopts Communications Policy Programme for Electronic Media
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"Today ... the government adopted a Communications Policy Programme for Electronic Media to be submitted to the Parliament as a report. The report takes a position on such issues as granting operating licences, frequency band use and criteria for...
Meanwhile, in the Far North
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One of the consequences of the eurozone crisis is that media, pundits and market analysts have been forced to become experts of what previously would have been seen as the most obscure political events. Thus, the Finnish local elections now have inte...
Anti-federalist EUCO barrage from Finland and the Netherlands?
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France is the ”engine” of European integration which in 1954 torpedoed the European Defence Community (EDC) and the European (Political) Community (EPC), and in 2005 sank the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. In other words, some s...
Daily Digest: Preparing for the break-up
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Remarks by the Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, in a interview with the british Daily Telegraph today has drawn attention to the nordic country. In the interview Tuomioja explains that Finland is preparing for a euro break-up. ”It is...
New Small Nokias On Their Way Up
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When Nokia announced that thousands of people will have to leave the company in Finland, it sent a panic wave all the way from Helsinki to the polar circle. The Finns thought that the good days were over. But it … Continue reading →...
“Finland will not hang itself to the euro at any cost…”
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… and we are prepared for all scenarios,” said Finnish finance minister Jutta Urpilainen earlier in the month.‘ALL SCENARIOS’, you say?JP Morgan’s Flows &...
Finland’s Spanish swap
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Fresh from being debated in an extraordinary session of the Finnish parliament…Click for the letter confirming the terms of Finland’s deal for ‘collateral’...
Finland’s got a seguridad
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At an ungodly hour of Tuesday morning, eurozone ministers agreed that the EFSF will lend Spain €30bn for its banks by the end of July.Two weeks.It’s therefore also...
Finnish finance minister: "Finland will not hang itself to the euro"
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Finland, one of the few EU countries still enjoying triple-A credit rating, will not accept an integration model in which it would have to pay other countries´ debts. That is the tough message of Finnish finance minister Jutta Urpilainen: Finla...
It’s an ESMergency
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There’s nothing FT Alphaville likes doing more on a New York morning than rooting around the ESM Treaty.So when you see headlines like this (via Reuters)Finland to block...
Frontex Director is Leading Candidate for Finnish Interior Ministry Position
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Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen is a leading candidate for the recently vacated position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior in Finland. He was passed over for the position when it was last open. Prior to becoming ...
Could a Finnish exit trigger the end of the euro?
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Matthew Lynn, chief executive of the London based consultancy Strategy Economics, thinks that Finland´s exit could be the trigger breaking the eurozone in its present form: But here’s how it might come to a head over the summer: a “Sp...
Grahnlaw among top ten political blogs in Finland
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Cision Finland ranked the top ten political blogs in Finland according to their own algorithm. The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat picked up the news and the Green Party paper Vihreä lanka happily noted the strong showing of Green politicians. The Green top du...
Finland – Presidential Elections 2012
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Finland’s main governing party, the National Coalition Party, has claimed the presidency for the first time in more than 50 years after Sauli Niinistö defeated the Green candidate Pekka Haavisto in the second round of voting. Niinistö received 63...
Is Finland Really A Closet Member Of The Eurozone Periphery?
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At a time when many eyes look hopefully towards the ECB for the kind of action which may prove to be the salvation of the much beleagured Eurozone other, more critical, ones are casting themselves back over the recent track record of …...
Fashion
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In all my years abroad, I’ve heard three comments about the Finnish fashion sense. Not three themes of comments, three in total. So let me enlighten you on the Finnish fashion sense. One girl once said to me how she absolutely loves Hel Looks.
Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!
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Finland celebrates its independence (from Russia) on 6 December. As a Finn living in Belgium, I will celebrate it today by reflecting for a moment on the language situation in Finland and what it has meant to me. I grew up in Finland, a Nordic countr...
A weekend in Helsinki
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Last weekend I was in Helsinki for the XXI European Congress of the Young European Federalists (also known by the French acronym JEF, Jeunes Européens fédéralistes). The Congress, which meets every two years in a different European city, is the &#...
Practically related
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There are 5 389 170 people in Finland (1/11/2011). There’s also a theory that most people are connected through six degrees of separation; meaning that if you’d name a random person anywhere in the world, there’s only a six people s...
Digital Agenda: EU and national FI SV EN
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My latest roundup of the trilingual series on the Digital Agenda for Europe and national digital agendas was published 22 October 2011. Since then I have written a few more blog posts in Finnish, Swedish and English between 22 and 26 October 2011 a...
Digital Agenda for Finland: ”Boring stuff” left out
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As we saw in the blog post Digital Agenda for Finland: glossy or original? the colour brochure in Finnish and English differs from the original report from the government to Parliament in Finnish and Swedish. After a preface and an introduction the b...
Digital Agenda for Finland: glossy or original?
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As we have seen, Finland has a domestic Digital Agenda, which has been published English in addition to the national languages: Productive and inventive Finland – Digital Agenda for 2011-2020 (pdf brochure; 49 pages) There is a comparable brochure...
National Digital Agenda for Finland 2011-2020
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At European Union level we have the information society strategy, which is a EU2020 flagship initiative: A Digital Agenda for Europe; Brussels, 26.8.2010 COM(2010) 245 final/2 (41 pages) National Digital Agendas? In the wake of the EU level Digital...
Finland joining EU: Committed leaders Esko Aho and Paavo Lipponen
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Finland applied for EU membership in 1992 and joined the European Economic Area (EEA) from the beginning of 1994, but was not content to stay at that level. Thus, Finland pursued full membership and became a full member of the European Union on 1 Jan...
Daily digest: Finland throws sand in the machinery again
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It has started to become a habit for the nordic country. First they want collateral for the Greek bailout, and this time with the Dutch, Finland is opposing Bulgaria and Romania to become part of the Schengen-agreement causing a lot of trouble for th...
Not yet finished with the Finnish
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Senior European officials had hoped to finally bang out a deal today on Finland’s demand for collateral from Athens in order to participate in Greece’s new €109bn bail-out. But fellow Brussels Blogger Josh Chaffin reports in from Wroclaw, Polan...
The Finnish mafia
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The Finns are very organised, even when we’re abroad. We’ve even made sure we meet other Finns in a very organised manner. Most countries will have their own Finnish expat association or at least a community of Finns that meet on special...
Finland: budget disciplinarian seeing red
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In the world of intergovernmental EU economic and eurozone politics, Finland is seen as one of the disciplinarian hawks alongside Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. However, the return path to sustainable public finances is slow and difficult. Yes...
