100 posts
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 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...
To the Finland Station: The undoing of the Menshevik Approach to the Euro Crisis
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When Lenin alighted on 3rd April 1917 at Petrograd’s Finland Station, a train was set in motion that upstaged, and eventually overturned, the Mensheviks’ plan for an ‘evolutionary’ path from absolute Tsarism to some form of so...
Daily digest: Finland’s collateral is messing up the second bailout of Greece
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Germany announced yesterday that the deal between Finland and Greece for Athens to provide collateral in return for loan guarantees requires accept from all 17 eurozone members.”Such a bilateral accord may not be agreed to the detriment of the...
Blondes must have more fun
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“Where are you from?” “Finland.” “Oh really? How come you’re not blonde?” I’ve had this exact conversation about 100 times. How the discussion moves on from there depends on my mood; sometimes I take an...
EU court turns up its nose at Finnish ‘cognac’
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LUXEMBOURG (AP) — You can’t make cognac in Finland. No how, no way. The EU’s Court of Justice ruled Thursday that a Finnish company called Gust. Ranin Oy cannot use the word “cognac” and its Finnish translation, “k...
Finland in Europe: Katainen government roundup
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Here are a number of blog posts I have written from a European angle about the formation of the new government in Finland. The roundup takes us up to pre-visit views ahead of the first bilateral trips of prime minister Jyrki Katainen to neighbouring...
Katainen government formation and ministers in Finland
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This blog post is about the next prime minister of Finland, his election and government formation, as well as the ministers of the new Finnish cabinet. PM Jyrki Katainen The public broadcaster YLE reports that the leader of the National Coalition Par...
Finland: Disparate ”six-pack” government taking form
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Finland emerged from the 17 April 2011 general election split between those who want to face up to the challenges of globalisation, the increasing need for internationalism and the requirements to show European solidarity and those who want an escape...
He’s back
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Negotiations over who will take part in the next Finnish government have proven sticky. Six weeks after the elections, a deal still hasn’t been struck, meaning that Finland is still stuck with a caretaker government. The negotiations have now enter...
Finland – Greens back in game despite election loss
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In spite of a stinging setback (Helsingin Sanomat) in the elections, the Green League is back in the game. Prime minister designate Jyrki Katainen (National Coalition) has asked Vihreä Liitto to join the coalition talks after the True Finns pulled o...
Morning digest: True Finns becomes biggest party in Finland after rejecting bailout of Portugal
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President of European Central Bank left meeting about a possible restructuring of Greek sovereign debt in anger, reports Financial Times. Barroso, chief of the European Commission, want a replacement for Dominique Strauss-Kahn as soon as possible, wr...
Live From New York: A Finnish Expat on the Euro Crisis
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A Finn-come-New Yorker expounds on the transatlantic notions that surround the euro crisis, the recent victories by right-wing nationalist parties in Finland's elections, and how observers in the US may or may not be able to comment on it all.
Reindeerspotting director Joonas Neuvonen: story of a Finnish junkie
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Reindeerspotting - Escape from Santaland, a Finnish documentary about drug addicts, is a film that you will probably never see at the cinema. Widely criticised in Finland, where it is accused of promoting the use of hard drugs, it’s been a viral hi...
Lipponen: Yokel Uprising Might Even Color the Presidential Election
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Finland continues to analyze the results of the parliamentary election that was held last week. The former Finnish Prime Minister and former Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen (Social Democratic Party) called the parliamentary elections for a “yo...
Some reflections on coalition building (in light of UK and Finnish experience)
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Something has been nagging at me since the True Finns’ election success on Sunday. I think it’s because I am struggling to answer this question: why must True Finns be brought into a governing coalition? This question was brought into foc...
Finland: Eurozone shockwaves
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The epicentre of the devastating 1755 Lisbon earthquake was much closer to Portugal than Helsinki, but how shattering are the shockwaves from Finland going to be? . The pro-European PM-elect Jyrki Katainen is determined to shoulder responsibility in...
"The Victory of the True Finns – Time to Attack the Bailout Myth" by Henning Meyer
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The European political scene is shaken today by the election victory of the right-wing True Finns who gained unprecedented support in yesterday’s election. I was on Al Jazeera English late last...
Finis Finlandiae?
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The anti-EU and anti-immigration True Finns made spectacular progress in the election to the Parliament of Finland, gaining 34 new seats. Just 0.1% behind the vote share of the Social Democrats, the True Finns have the third largest parliamentary gro...
Finland: True Finns up, Greens down
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The Finnish Greens lost 5 of their 15 seats in Parliament in yesterday’s elections that showed a dramatic breakthrough for the nationalist True Finns. Apart from charismatic Timo Soini’s party that went from 5 to 39 seats, all others lost...
The public are capable of turning against their political class reassuringly quickly.
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What an absolutely unbelievable result for Timo Soini's True Finns political party in Finland. His Party has gone from having 6 seats in Finland's Parliament to 39 overnight. Having met Timo, I am extremely pleased for him. He is an extreme...
Finnish Parliamentary Election – A Populist Dream Come True
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The Finnish political landscape and political reality has changed overnight. The National Coalition Party became the biggest party with 20.4% of the votes. This was a historical moment for the party, but the biggest winner and the biggest sensation w...
Oh the Finnish expertise
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Open Europe disdainfully dismisses othersA lot has been said about the True Finns, with the European media all of a sudden forced to become experts on Finnish national politics - it has to be said with varying degrees of success. That many still refe...
First to the Finnish line
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This is a graph showing the support for the different parties, according to a poll published last night, ahead of the Finnish national elections on Sunday. All international eyes are on the True Finns (fourth from the left) - the party that has said...
Angry birds: Are 'True Finns' about to stage a revolution?
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Those who have been tracing the recent rise of the European far right will have their eyes trained on Finland this Sunday, as that country holds a national election. According to recent opinion polls the Finnish nationalist party the "True Finns" cou...
EU summit: Leaked draft conclusions
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As we’ve been reporting for the last couple of days, many of the fiscal measures that we once thought had been agreed for the two-day summit are unravelling, thanks in part to Finland’s objections to finalising an increase in the eurozone’s
Drinking culture
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Ever been in a situation where you’re the only representative of your country, possibly among people who have never before met anyone from there? Well that happens to me a lot. Most often than not, this situation ends up with a drink in my hand...
