NordenBladet — Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will attend the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 21 March. One of the main topics on the meeting agenda is Russian aggression against Ukraine. In their joint session, the foreign and defence ministers are also to adopt the Strategic Compass for security and defence cooperation in the EU. After the Foreign Affairs Council, Minister Haavisto will attend the opening session of the European Humanitarian Forum. From Brussels, Minister Haavisto will travel to Malmö, where he will attend the Nordic Council Theme Session on 22 March.The Foreign Affairs Council will continue the discussion on Russian aggression against Ukraine. Finland strongly condemns Russia’s invasion, which is a blatant violation of international law. Finland responds to Russia’s actions as part of the European Union and considers it justified that the EU react strongly to Russia’s invasion. The EU must provide extensive political, economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine. It is also important to support the Eastern partner countries, especially Moldova and Georgia.The Foreign Affairs Council will also continue the discussion on the situation in Mali and the Sahel and the EU’s actions in the region. Finland stresses the importance of taking comprehensive measures to achieve sustainable peace and stability. The EU foreign ministers will hold an informal exchange with Moldova’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicu Popescu on the impact of the war in Ukraine on Moldova. Relative to the population, Moldova has received the largest number of people fleeing Ukraine. Finland has supported Moldova by sending material assistance and three experts through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to help with the coordination of assistance.The foreign and defence ministers are expected to adopt the EU’s Strategic Compass in their joint session. They have discussed the Strategic Compass on a regular basis, most recently in January. Finland aims at a broad-based, sufficiently political and concrete Strategic Compass that will develop and strengthen the EU’s security and defence cooperation. The EU must be able to bear responsibility and create security in an extensive and efficient manner. On 21 March, Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto will also attend the opening session of the European Humanitarian Forum, hosted by the European Commission and France, which will focus on ways to strengthen the EU’s role in the promotion of international humanitarian law and the protection of humanitarian space.From Brussels, Minister Haavisto will travel to Malmö, where he will attend the Nordic Council Theme Session on 22 March to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
NordenBladet — The Government has agreed on measures by which Finland will halve its emissions in the effort sharing sector by 2030 and set the course towards carbon neutrality by 2035. The measures decided in the autumn will be strengthened to ensure that the necessary emission reductions of 5.7 Mt in total will be reached. This is how Finland can achieve the emissions reduction target proposed by the European Commission for 2030 in the effort sharing sector, i.e. in agriculture, transport, building-specific heating and waste management.“In times like this our most urgent attention is drawn to the suffering of the Ukrainian people, the security situation in Europe and Finland’s security of supply. At the same time, the Government has continued the efforts to find solutions to the climate crisis. We have now agreed on climate measures to achieve Finland’s emission reduction targets in the effort sharing sector. With these decisions we are on the path towards a carbon-neutral Finland by 2035,” says Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Emma Kari, who chairs the Ministerial Working Group on Climate and Energy Policy.“The crisis in Europe has shown that the direction of Finland’s climate policy has been the right one: building a fossil-free welfare state is also part of security policy. Speeding up the green transition is increasingly important. Clean domestic solutions bring work and wellbeing to Finland and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” Emma Kari says.The Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan was circulated for comments in December-January and research institutes carried out assessments of the adequacy of the measures included in the plan in February 2022. According to the research institutes, the measures included in the draft version must be strengthened to achieve the objectives with sufficient certainty.Based on these assessments, the Ministerial Working Group on Climate and Energy Policy outlined further measures for the effort sharing sector. The particular needs that were identified included ways to find additional emission reductions of 0.1-0.2 Mt, strengthening climate work in the transport sector, strengthening the credibility of emission reductions in municipalities and consumption, and ensuring that climate targets for the land use sector will be exceeded, which will secure the use of the ‘flexibility’ for the land use sector.Measures for heating, transport and agriculture to be strengthened, emission reduction target for public procurementA just transition will be strengthened and climate measures of private households promoted by introducing a government guarantee model to support climate-friendly investments in households and housing companies, including geothermal heat or purchasing clean vehicles. In addition, a support model will be prepared to provide assistance to people in a fair manner e.g. in situations where fuel prices are rising sharply. The support for phasing out oil heating in households and municipalities and energy subsidies for residential buildings will be continued.Climate work in municipalities will be made more systematic by obliging municipalities and regions to draw up climate change plans. The obligation will be included in the Climate Change Act in autumn 2022. In addition, a Government Resolution on domestic and low-carbon procurement operations will be drafted. The Resolution will set an emissions reduction target for public procurement operations and the achievement of this target will also be monitored. These measures will ensure that the 0.4 Mt emission reduction calculated for the measures concerning municipalities and consumption will be achieved.Measures to reduce emissions from agriculture will be supported and strengthened, which will enable a higher emission reduction target for agriculture (0.4 Mt > 0.6 Mt by 2030) and will also improve the profitability of agriculture. Climate work in agriculture consists of a large number of measures, such as improving soil carbon sequestration and reducing methane emissions from dairy cows, and preparing the Climate Food Programme. In accordance with the Government Programme, legislative measures will not lead to additional costs for farmers without compensating them for any such costs.The achievement of emission reductions in transport is ensured by continuing the preparation of emissions trading in the national transport sector and the distance-based transport tax in case other national measures and EU-level solutions are insufficient. Emissions from transport will be reduced in line with the Roadmap for Fossil-free Transport. The production and use of biogas will be promoted by implementing the biogas programme, monitoring its impact and seeking additional measures to increase biogas production to 4 TWh. The Ministerial Working Group on Climate and Energy Policy will discuss the matter in April 2022.Government’s two other climate plans circulated for comments soonThe preparation of the Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan has been coordinated with the processes to prepare the Climate and Energy Strategy and the climate plan for the land use sector.The draft climate plan for the land use sector will be circulated for comments within the next few weeks. The process is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Government outlined that, as part of this plan, decisions on additional measures will be made to ensure that part of Finland’s EU-level emission reduction target for the effort sharing sector can be met by strengthening carbon sinks. Under his plan, a package of carbon exchange pilot projects will also be implemented with the aim to significantly reduce emissions and increase carbon sinks, but in such a way that this does not substitute for other emission reductions. The objective and implementation of the package will be further specified during the process, and it will be prepared swiftly so that the projects will be launched in 2022. The carbon sequestration market will be developed and a set of rules created for it.The Climate and Energy Strategy is also to be circulated for comments in April. This process is led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The Strategy takes into account the need to increase energy self-sufficiency and security of supply and speed up the transition to renewable forms of energy, which have become even more important after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.Together, these three plans cover all emissions in Finland and the measures to reduce them.
NordenBladet — The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health will hold a consultation event on the draft decree concerning the rights of access to client data in healthcare and social welfare on 4 April 2022 at 9–11. The draft decree was circulated for comments in autumn 2021.At the event, the Ministry will present the draft decree that was updated based on the comments received. Participants will then have the opportunity to share their comments and views on the draft. The aim is to issue the decree as soon as possible.The event will be held online using Teams. Participants are not required to register for the event in advance.More information and the link to the event are available on the event calendar of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health: Consultation: draft decree on the rights of access to client data in healthcare and social welfare (in Finnish)
NordenBladet — On 18 March 2017, Fortum Power and Heat Oy submitted to the Government an application for an operating licence for its nuclear power plant units Loviisa 1 (LO1) and Loviisa 2 (LO2), in accordance with the Nuclear Energy Act. The operating licence would allow energy production at the units until the end of 2050 and, as required by preparations for their decommissioning, until the end of 2055. The current operating licences of the units are valid until 2027 and 2030.The company also applied for an operating licence for a final disposal facility for low and intermediate level nuclear waste located in the Loviisa power plant area until the end of 2090. The Loviisa nuclear power plant is Finland’s first nuclear power plant. Its two power plant units began production in 1977 and 1980. The power plant units are pressurised water reactors of type VVER-440. After an increase to power output, the output of both reactors exceeds 500 MW. The plant’s annual production is more than eight terawatt hours, which accounts for about 10% of Finland’s annual electricity production.The processing of operating licence applications includes a statutory consultation procedure, which will be announced in April. At that time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment will request statements from several authorities, organisations and municipalities in the affected area, and provide citizens and communities with an opportunity to express their opinions. Statements can be submitted by 12 August 2022 via the Lausuntopalvelu.fi service and other means. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment submitted its informed conclusion on EIA report on continued use of Loviisa nuclear power plant on 14 January 2022. The conclusion ended the environmental impact assessment process of the project, which also included an international assessment as part of the Espoo Convention.
NordenBladet — On Thursday 17 March, Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen met with her colleague, German Minister of State for Europe Anna Lührmann, in Berlin. The ministers discussed the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Europe, particularly on the energy sector.Both ministers stressed the importance of ambitious climate objectives for phasing out fossil fuels from Russia and transitioning to renewable energy sources. Security of energy supply is also a particularly high priority in the current situation.The ministers discussed the General Affairs Council meeting that will take place next week. The meeting is in preparation for the March European Council, where the EU leaders will adopt the Strategic Compass. The Strategic Compass will determine the direction of the EU’s security and defence cooperation and clarify its objectives over the next 5 to 10 years.“We are living in a time when we must invest in strengthening the EU, including in the areas of foreign and security policy and defence cooperation. Adopting the Strategic Compass, which sets the course for EU security and defence cooperation over the long term, is an important step forward in developing European security,” Tuppurainen said.Minister Tuppurainen also met with Michael Roth, Chair of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee. In this meeting, too, the main focus was on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its many consequences for Europe. The current situation with regard to the rule of law procedure and support for the Commission were also on the agenda.Minister Tuppurainen travelled to Berlin as part of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s delegation, which met with German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on 16 March.
NordenBladet — Spain’s recovery and resilience plan focuses on the green and digital transitions, which are also Finland’s priorities. Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari, accompanied by a business delegation, will visit Madrid on 20–23 March to promote cooperation between Spain and Finland.Spain is the fourth largest economy in the European Union, and its economic growth is expected to clearly exceed the EU average this year. In addition, Spain is one of the biggest recipients of the EU recovery package. Most of this funding will be used to promote the green and digital transitions. While these two sectors have been topical for quite some time, they have now gained a critical status due to the changes in the European security situation. It is now increasingly important to have well-functioning digital services and the ability to prevent cyber attacks against them, reducing energy dependence and replacing fossil energy sources with green solutions. The level of ambition in the different kinds of reforms and public investments included in the Spanish recovery plan is impressive, and the success of the plan depends on innovative solutions.Finnish companies are showing an increasing interest in Spain, and with the exception of the pandemic, trade between our countries has grown steadily. There are currently around 250 Finnish companies established in Spain either through their own subsidiaries or through local partners. “There is plenty of growth potential in our countries’ cooperation in the business and innovation sectors. The Finnish companies joining me to Spain are top experts in the green and digital transitions. I believe that our meetings with Spanish decision-makers will speed up business cooperation between our countries,” says Minister Skinnari.During his visit, Minister Skinnari will meet representatives of the Spanish Government and business life. Topical European matters, too, will be discussed in the political meetings. Minister Skinnari will hold discussions with Minister for the Ecological Transition of Spain Teresa Ribera and Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism María Reyes Maroto, among others. He will also meet Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ángeles Moreno Bau from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the current security situation in Europe, among other topics. Fourteen Finnish companies will accompany Minister Skinnari on his visit to Spain. The companies have expertise in different kinds of digital solutions in the fields of energy optimisation, green building and waste management that use different kinds of technologies, such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
Members of the Estonian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) are attending the 144th IPU Assembly, with focus on the role of the parliaments in responding to climate change, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as an emergency item on the agenda.
The Head of the Riigikogu delegation Toomas Kivimägi described environmental protection and shift towards climate neutrality as one of the biggest global challenges.
“Sadly, this is one of the topics that has been sidelined by the war in Ukraine, at least for us. This is why we are putting in the effort to make sure that the IPU Assembly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. To achieve this, the geographical Twelve Plus Group (which unites the European countries, incl. Ukraine, as well as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia) is working on submitting the condemnation of aggression and a call on Russia to immediately end the war as an emergency item on the Assembly agenda,” Kivimägi explained.
Kivimägi also emphasised that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not merely a war between Russia and Ukraine. “It is a war between the authoritarian and the free world. It is a war that concerns all of us. No country in the world can remain indifferent or fail to support Ukraine,” he stressed.
“The war has set new challenges to the environment as well. The deficit of energy carriers, mostly in Europe, has created the pressure to take fossil fuels into more extensive use. This can only be a short-term solution and we need the whole world’s contribution to make sure that it remains so. If not, we would fall behind the set ambitious goals in achieving climate neutrality, and would also slow down the pace of introducing renewable energy carriers,” Kivimägi added.
The Assembly brings together all the statutory bodies of the IPU, including the Governing Council, Standing Committees, Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, and Committee on Middle East Questions, as well as the Forum of Women Parliamentarians, and the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. The Standing Committees report to the Assembly on their work, and the Plenary Assembly adopts the resolutions of the Standing Committees, as well as the General Debate Outcome Document on the response to climate change.
Estonia is represented at the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Indonesia on 20–24 March by the President of the Estonian IPU Group Toomas Kivimägi, and Vice-Presidents Helle-Moonika Helme, Helmen Kütt, and Marika Tuus-Laul.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the oldest and largest organisation of parliaments in the world. It was established in 1889 and has 178 member states from the entire world. Estonia was a member of the Union between 1921–1940, and restored its membership after regaining independence in 1991.
At the election of the Board of the Riigikogu today, Jüri Ratas was re-elected the President of the Riigikogu. 53 members of the Riigikogu voted in his favour. Ratas’s opposing candidate Helir-Valdor Seeder gained the support of 36 members.
A total of 95 members of the Riigikogu participated in the election of the President. Six ballot papers were invalid.
Jüri Ratas had been nominated by Chairman of the Estonian Centre Party Faction Jaanus Karilaid.
Helir-Valdor Seeder had been nominated by Deputy Chairman of Faction Isamaa Priit Sibul.
Jüri Ratas thanked the members of the Riigikogu for their support.
In the election of Vice-Presidents, Chairman of the Estonian Reform Party Faction Mart Võrklaev nominated Hanno Pevkur as a candidate for a Vice-President of the Riigikogu, and Chairman of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction Henn Põlluaas nominated Martin Helme as a candidate for a Vice-President.
88 members of the Riigikogu took part in the secret ballot for the election of the Vice-Presidents. 52 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of Hanno Pevkur, and 32 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of Martin Helme. Four ballot papers were invalid. According to the number of votes received, Hanno Pevkur was re-elected the First Vice-President of the Riigikogu and Martin Helme was re-elected the Second Vice-President.
NordenBladet — On 17 March 2022, the Government issued a decree on infrastructure support for the use of electricity, biogas and renewable hydrogen in transport between 2022 and 2025. The aim is to promote the use of these alternative fuels in road transport by supporting investments in the charging and gas refuelling network.A total of EUR 13.2 million has been reserved for the purpose as a three-year deferrable appropriation in the state budget for 2022. In 2022–2023, funding will be granted as part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan in accordance with the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. After that, the project will likely be financed with national funding, which will be decided on in the budget and the General Government Fiscal Plan.The content of the decree is largely in line with the decree on the previous aid scheme implemented in 2018–2021. Infrastructure support will continue to be allocated based on competitive tendering, with the Energy Authority continuing as the state aid authority. Aid will be granted to investments in the charging network for electric vehicles and refuelling networks for gas and hydrogen vehicles. The decree was issued under the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers.By promoting the implementation of the Roadmap for fossil-free transport and Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, the infrastructure support will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport.According to the Roadmap for fossil-free transport, replacing fossil fuels with other fuels in transport will require a nationwide public charging network for electric vehicles and refuelling infrastructure for gas-powered vehicles. According to estimates, infrastructure support will be necessary at least until the mid-2020s, after which the number of electric and gas vehicles may enable the construction of infrastructure purely on market terms.Competitive tendering in five categories to uncover the best projectsA call for tenders organised by the Energy Authority seeks the most cost-efficient and effective investment projects. The tenders received will be grouped into five categories where the projects will compete against each other. The categories are: Investment projects for high-power charging points for vehicles (group 1)Investment projects for charging points for local public transport (group 2)Investment projects for compressed biogas refuelling points (group 3)Investment projects for liquefied biogas refuelling points (group 4)Investment projects for renewable hydrogen refuelling points (group 5) Aid will be granted to the most successful tenders in each group within the framework of the appropriation allocated to the group. The aid scheme includes several conditions and restrictions to ensure a successful tendering process and an optimal outcome. The aim is also to minimise the negative impact that the aid scheme could have on competition and the market. The decree is in force from 17 March 2022 until 31 December 2025. The European Commission must be notified in advance of the aid scheme for recharging points in local public transport (group 2) and biogas refuelling points (groups 3 and 4). Consequently, for these groups, the decree will enter into force only after the Commission’s approval.
