The Great Nordic Thread

[Helsinkian]

Minor crisis in the Finnish Greens. Touko Aalto was elected chairman by the party's members last year. During his chairmanship the party's poll support fell from 17 percent to 12 percent (still higher than the last election result, of course). The political pressure and personal problems drove Aalto to a burnout which he cited as the reason of his resignation as chairman last month.

The Greens' rules state that if a chair quits in the middle of the term, it is up to the party's executive council to choose an interim chair who will serve until the next party congress. This means that a group of only 43 people get to choose the next Green leader. Many thought that this would be the former chairman Ville Niinistö. However, not only did he reject this, he also announced that he's not even running for parliament next spring.

The two-time presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto was elected as chairman. He intends to lead the party only through the elections of the spring, until the party congress next summer.

[Helsinkian]

Finland now has a "Seven Stars Movement".

MP Paavo Väyrynen, a former long-time Center Party politician and four-time presidential candidate, who belonged to the party's conservative and eurosceptic wing, founded a new party called Citizens' Party in 2016. Though he himself wrote the rules of that party in such a way that the party's membership was to be kept small and thus managable, he nevertheless suffered a "coup" in the new party, with the new party leadership expelling him (the case is being contested in courts).

Early this year Väyrynen toyed with running for Center Party chairman but was forced to back down when it became apparent that Center would change its rules to prevent him from doing so. He then resigned from Center, two years after founding his own party.

Being thus rejected by both Center and the Citizens' Party, Väyrynen founded a second party in two years, naming it the Seven Stars Movement (while the name is clearly inspired by Italian example, Väyrynen claims that it is a reference to the Big Dipper). Now he claims to have gathered the 5,000 signatures needed to register the party.

Supposedly the party will be centrist and mildly eurosceptic, though satisfying Väyrynen's egotism will doubtlessly be its main purpose.

[Helsinkian]

I see that Denmark is building a fence on the German border, ostensibly to stop wild boars:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2019/jan/28/denmark-begins-work-on-wall-to-keep-out-wild-boar

Maybe Trump could adopt this argument regarding the US-Mexico wall?

[Helsinkian]

YLE's post-election poll sees Finns Party leading (changes compared to the election):

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture has cancelled the public funding granted to the Finns Party's youth organisation because of a tweet the organisation sent last month. The tweet in question, later deleted, included a screencaption from a European Parliament ad that depicted black people; the youth organisation had added a text which exhorted people to vote for the Finns Party "so that Finland's future won't look like this".

Finns Party leader Jussi Halla-aho criticized the youth wing for this tweet. There are some echoes from the conflict between the Sweden Democrats and their youth wing some years ago. It should be noted that the Finns Party youth organisation has a curious arrangement where one can be their member without being a member of the party proper.

At the same time, the Finns Party has broken 20% in the polls (Alma Media / Tietoykkönen):

Finns Party 20.1%
NCP 17.2%
SDP 16.2%
Greens 13.6%
Centre 13%
Left Alliance 8.2%
SPP 4.8%
CD 3%
Others 3.9%

[Helsinkian]

Finns Party pulls a six point lead; SDP falls to fourth. Finns Party has led all the polls following the election.

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1192340297008726016

[Helsinkian]

A poll in Åland regarding Åland's status:

Autonomous part of Finland (status quo): 78%
Independence: 9%
Part of Finland without autonomy: 5%
Join Sweden: 4%

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture has cancelled the public funding granted to the Finns Party's youth organisation because of a tweet the organisation sent last month. The tweet in question, later deleted, included a screencaption from a European Parliament ad that depicted black people; the youth organisation had added a text which exhorted people to vote for the Finns Party "so that Finland's future won't look like this".

Finns Party leader Jussi Halla-aho criticized the youth wing for this tweet. There are some echoes from the conflict between the Sweden Democrats and their youth wing some years ago. It should be noted that the Finns Party youth organisation has a curious arrangement where one can be their member without being a member of the party proper.

The relations between the Finns Party and the Finns Party Youth have now come to a breaking point. A few days ago the youth organisation's deputy chair was forced to resign after a video emerged of a speech where he introduced himself as "an ethnic nationalist, a traditionalist and a fascist". Then today the youth organisation rejected a rule change which would have limited its membership to members of the party proper. That rule change had been demanded by the Finns Party, and it now seems that the party will do what the Sweden Democrats did and formally sever links with the youth organisation.

[Helsinkian]

After leading the polls for nearly a year following the 2019 election, Finns Party has lost support, and Sanna Marin's Social Democrats have taken a clear lead in the polls.

This despite the fact that the Finns Party had advocated a very tough line on the coronavirus pandemic, demanding that schools be closed two weeks before the government closed them, and suggesting a curfew which the government never ordered. Apparently the people are content with the less strict measures chosen by the Marin government.

[Helsinkian]

Finns Party kick out one of their MPs after he tweeted a meme that mocked George Floyd.

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Finance Minister, Katri Kulmuni (Center), resigns following a scandal revolving around her decision to use public funds to pay for personal consulting bills. Last December Kulmuni played an important role in ousting Prime Minister Rinne.

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Finance Minister, Katri Kulmuni (Center), resigns following a scandal revolving around her decision to use public funds to pay for personal consulting bills. Last December Kulmuni played an important role in ousting Prime Minister Rinne.

In a "blast from the past", Matti Vanhanen, who was Prime Minister from 2003 to 2010, will be the new Finance Minister.

[Helsinkian]

The Finnish Parliament has rejected the state prosecutor's request to lift the parliamentary immunity of the Finns Party MP Juho Mäenpää. The prosecutor wanted to indict Mäenpää of incitement for his speech in the parliament where he used the term "invasive species" in a way that was interpreted as referring to asylum seekers.

121 MPs voted to lift the immunity, with 54 voting against, but this fell short of the five-sixths supermajority required. This was only the fourth time in the parliament's history when MPs had to consider a request to remove an MP's immunity. The previous attempts also failed. The immunity applies only to speeches made in parliament; if Mäenpää had made the speech outside the parliament, the immunity would not have applied.

[Helsinkian]

Finland was supposed to hold a municipal election on 18 April, but now it is being postponed to 13 June due to rising Covid cases. The decision was criticised by the Finns Party but backed by the other parties. The Finns Party noted that the government had a whole year to prepare for the election and did not do much.

The decision goes against the European trend; while several elections were postponed in the spring of 2020, when the Covid situation was new to everyone, almost all elections scheduled after that have been held.

[Helsinkian]

Some drama in the Finnish Parliament regarding the passage of the European Union's "NextGenerationEU" stimulus package.

Earlier, the parliament's constitutional law committee had decided that the package needs to be approved with a two-thirds majority, as it involves a major concession of powers to the union. The National Coalition Party, typically very pro-EU but now in opposition, announced that they would abstain from voting. This would have given the government a two-thirds majority for the package, as abstaining is treated as if one were absent from the vote. However, the NCP's decision was slammed as spineless by both anti-EU and pro-EU people, and the party reconsidered its stance and allowed its MPs a free vote on the matter. Though a few NCP MPs will vote against the package, most of them will vote in favour, giving it the two-thirds majority.

With the package's passing seeming assured, the vote was supposed to happen on wednesday. However, MPs of the anti-EU Finns Party have been filibustering -- the Finnish Parliament puts no limit on how long a debate can last, and the 38 Finns Party MPs keep asking for the floor over and over again, with debates going to 4 AM and continuing the next day. Adding to the controversy, the Deputy Speaker Juho Eerola (Finns Party) hinted that if he were presiding over such a late hours debate, which often has a temporary Finns Party majority (with other parties' MPs in their offices or at home), he might be tempted to use it for his party's advantage by approving a motion to delay the whole matter until autumn. There is a gentleman's agreement not to abuse such temporary majorities, and the Speaker announced that Eerola would no longer be presiding during the debates on this matter.

The filibustering has taken on some odd features, as the Finns Party MPs are searching for more material to speak about. One MP read the "Little Riding Hood" from the podium (supposedly as an allegory of some sort). Another read a poem written by her aide. A third MP asked his supporters to send him speeches via social media.

No one knows how much longer the Finns Party is going to keep up the filibuster. One MP said that it could go on until the municipal election on 13 June. Some in the party are hoping that losses in the election will convince some NCP and Centre Party MPs to change their position on the stimulus package. Currently, in addition to the 38 Finns Party MPs, there are 5 Christian Democrats, 5 NCP MPs, 1 Centre Party MP, 1 Movement Now MP and 1 independent MP opposed to the package. Those opposed to it cite the several billion euros in net losses for Finland and are in general worried that it will lead to a permanent arrangement of Northern Europe paying for Southern Europe's debts.

Update: Despite an eight hour speech by one Finns Party MP, it seems that the matter is moving to a vote next week.

Update 2: Passed 134–57. "No" voters: 38 Finns Party, 10 NCP, 5 CD, 2 Centre, 1 Movement Now, 1 independent.

[Helsinkian]

The Finns Party's leader Jussi Halla-aho has announced that he will not be seeking a third term as party leader in the party convention in August. Somewhat of a surprise, though he had hinted at it earlier when he said that he favoured term limits for the party's leader.

Halla-aho declined to give specific reasons for stepping down -- instead, he said that he had written a letter outlining his reasons and then gave it to a trusted journalist on the condition that it would be published no earlier than ten years from now. This leads me to believe that the reason might be related to the other parties' aversion to Halla-aho -- they may have told him behind the scenes that co-operation in government would be difficult with him but easier with another Finns Party leader (even though the NCP's leader said earlier this year that he was no longer categorically opposed to working with the Finns Party in a coalition). It is no secret that Halla-aho is a divisive figure in Finnish politics.

It is also possible that Halla-aho thinks that he achieved what he set out to do -- changing the party's overtly moderate line under Soini -- and now believes that things have stabilised, so he can step down. The leading members of the moderate wing left the party in 2017. Halla-aho has always seemed like an INTJ personality -- an independently minded figure who does not enjoy leadership positions but might accept them when there are no better alternatives. But if this is the reason for stepping down, why the mystery letter?

I don't think the result of the recent municipal election had an effect on the decision. Though the party underperformed the polls, they still got their best ever result in a municipal election. In the polls for the parliamentary election, the party continues to poll strongly.

The clear frontrunner seems to be Riikka Purra, the party's deputy chair. A female leader might help the party appeal to women. There is currently a strong gender divide when it comes to the party's support, and only 21 percent of the party's recently elected municipal councillors are women. On a sidenote, Purra's surname literally means "to bite".

Other possible contenders include Ville Tavio, leader of the parliamentary group, and Juho Eerola, deputy speaker of the parliament. MEP Laura Huhtasaari has already declined.

[Helsinkian]

The Finns Party leadership election will take place on 14 August, with the main candidates being the MPs Riikka Purra and Sakari Puisto. Purra is favoured to win.

Meanwhile, MP Ano Turtiainen, who was earlier expelled from the Finns Party, has set up his own party called "Power Belongs to the People" and managed to gather the required 5,000 signatures in a single day. Turtiainen has gained a reputation as an anti-vaxxer, and the new party will try to appeal to that crowd.

[Helsinkian]

The Finns Party leadership election will take place on 14 August, with the main candidates being the MPs Riikka Purra and Sakari Puisto. Purra is favoured to win.

Purra wins with 64% of votes.

The National Coalition Party is now the only major party never to have had a female leader.

[Helsinkian]

Former Finnish Minister of the Interior Pavi Rasanen is on trial for statements in a 2004 article that called homosexuality a developmental disorder, a radio interview, and a 2019 tweet which included a photograph of an extract of the bible.

The Finnish Lutheran Church (in which Räsänen is a member) has been extremely weak on this issue, failing to defend her. The Archbishop even declared, in response, that "freedom of religion is not without limits" and that one must make only "responsible interpretations" of the Bible.

[Helsinkian]

Former Finnish Minister of the Interior Pavi Rasanen is on trial for statements in a 2004 article that called homosexuality a developmental disorder, a radio interview, and a 2019 tweet which included a photograph of an extract of the bible.

Update: Päivi Räsänen was found not guilty. The district court ruled that while some of her statements were offensive, they did not cross the line to criminal.

This is not necessarily the end of it, since in Finland the prosecutor can also appeal the ruling. However, the district court was quite scathing toward the prosecutor, as the ruling states that the prosecutor had falsely presented her own interpretations of Räsänen's statements as her actual words.

[Helsinkian]

Finland's Prime Party Animal Minister Sanna Marin making the headlines again:

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1560015797367488517

Some think it's sexist to criticize her for this stuff, but Alexander Stubb (PM 2014-2015) was called "un-prime-ministerial" for wearing shorts and loafers in summer.

Another clip shows one of the other people shout what sounds like "jauhojengi" which means "flour gang" -- this was interpreted as a slang reference to cocaine. Others claim to hear "jallujengi" -- jallu being slang for a booze brand. [Edit: voice analysis confirms that it was the first one.] Some politicians have suggested that Marin take a drug test -- though that would be useless now, as the footage is weeks old.

[Helsinkian]

The partying continued in the Prime Minister's official residence: Marin's TikTok influencer friends took this photo in the residence's video conferencing room holding the "Finland" sign used in such conferences.

And here we go again: #summertrack22

I really wish this gate is not true. For one thing, it can be considerably hard to shoot videos against the government's graphics wall. Or, well, apparently not that hard as long as you're in the party entourage.

https://twitter.com/HenrikaPalenius/status/1561963997989068801

The funny thing was watching Finnish pro-Marin Twitter users go from "That is clearly a photoshop created in the Kremlin and maliciously spread by the far-right" of this morning to "What's wrong with the photo?" of this afternoon when Marin confirmed it was real.

[Helsinkian]

Political cartoon referring to an old feminist slogan:

"The personal is political."

"Except for the prime minister's partying -- that is purely personal!!"

https://twitter.com/JyrkiVainio/status/1562032106833854464

And yeah, it's not just about partying. When we have a prime minister who invites her drunken party entourage consisting of who knows to have a free rein of her residence, one wonders who else has had access and what has been done with such access.

[Helsinkian]

I have an aversion to cults of personality.

[Helsinkian]

The current controversy in Finnish politics concerns the possibility of a nurse strike. The government is trying to pass a law which would prevent the nurses from striking. The nurses' union calls this a "forced labour law" and has announced that their nurses will start resigning from their posts if it passes. That would be a strike by another name, and the union would pay compensation for its members for it -- though one wonders how long it could afford such an action.

Going so hard against unions and their right to strike is of course awkward for the government's left-wing parties in a country which has traditionally been very permissive of strikes -- and six months before an election. PM Marin tweeted in 2018 that women-led professions (like nurses) should go on a general strike for higher wages, but now she considers this law necessary. One MP of the Left Alliance suggested that the controversy could lead to the party having to leave the coalition.

Finnish nurses' wages have lagged behind their colleagues in similar countries. One also often hears that there is a shortage of nurses, even though Finland has more nurses per capita than most other EU countries. One reason for this is that Finnish nurses are responsible for duties that in other countries' hospitals are done by physicians or admin staff.

Update: The bill was passed by parliament. Left Alliance backed it (with the exception of five MPs) after it was amended so that the fines for striking go to the union and not the individual nurses.