NordenBladet — On Thursday 27 January, the Government appointed Master of Social Sciences Jyri Rantala to serve as Deputy Director General of the Government Communications Department from 15 February 2022 to 7 October 2026.Rantala comes to the Prime Minister’s Office from the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, where he has served as Head of Cabinet since June 2019. Prior to this, he served as Director of Communications at the Finnish Security Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2019 and as its acting Deputy Director General from May to July 2021. From 1993 to 2014, Rantala worked for the Finnish Broadcasting Company as a political TV news reporter, as a correspondent in Scandinavia and as a TV news reporter for domestic affairs.The Deputy Director General acts as Deputy Director of Government Communications, assists the Director General of the department and participates in the coordination, development and management of tasks falling within the department’s mandate.The Government Communications Department is responsible for the Government’s joint communications under the leadership of the Prime Minister and for the external communications of the Prime Minister’s Office. The department also harmonises the external communications of the ministries and central government and oversees the general development of central government communications.
Close to 1400 soldiers will take part in the annual Winter Camp exercise on the Central Training Area near Tapa, testing their infantry and armour capabilities against the harsh winter conditions in Estonia.
Demonstrating winter interoperability under the command of the 1st Infantry Brigade, British, French and Estonian soldiers will work alongside one another across a range of armour, infantry, planning, engineering and artillery scenarios.
Members of the UK-led Battlegroup will this year also be joined by soldiers from the British Army’s Parachute and Yorkshire Regiments, who will learn to train alongside armour in a winter environment.
“Since our arrival in September, we have placed great emphasis on increasing the Battlegroup’s capability and developing integration and interoperability with our allies,” said Lt Col Simon Worth, Commanding Officer of the eFP Estonia Battlegroup. “The Battlegroup has completed a series of exercises to prepare us for operating in the cold weather environment, which allows us to deploy on Winter Camp alongside the Estonian 1st Infantry Brigade and demonstrate the significant progress we have made.”
During the exercise NATO soldiers will be conducting live firing, anti-tank exercises, infantry patrols and engineering tasks, before culminating in a ‘force on force’ attack and defend training serial, with Estonian colleagues from the Scouts Battalion and the Estonian Defence League posing as the adversary.
This year, exercise Winter Camp will also include co-ordination between ground and air forces each day. F-16 fighter jets from the Belgian Air Force, currently stationed at Amari Air Base in Estonia as part of the NATO Air Policing mission, will provide the air support, enhancing the training for Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, whose role is to direct actions of the aircraft and call in airstrikes.
“Fighting force on force with soldiers from Scouts Battalion and Defence League while at the same time being tested by Estonian winter and difficult terrain will provide a unique learning opportunity for the battlegroup,” said commander of 1st Infantry Brigade colonel Andrus Merilo. “Winter Camp will definitely develop United Kingdom, French and Estonian soldiers´ and their commanders’ skills. They will practice how to maintain combat capabilities of personnel and fighting vehicles and learn how to conduct offensive and defensive actions in winter conditions in the most effective way.”
“After several joint exercises, Winter Camp is the culmination of the French Combat Team’s participation to the eFP mission in Estonia,” said Lt Col Nicolas, Deputy Commanding Officer of the eFP Estonia Battlegroup. “It is a real opportunity for our soldiers to perfect their tactical skills in a demanding winter environment, as well as to strengthen their interoperability work with our NATO allies.”
As the largest winter exercise for the Battlegroup, it will begin on 29th January and is scheduled to run until the 6th of February.
NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Estonia is currently led by the Royal Tank Regiment from the United Kingdom, with France and Denmark providing forces on a rotational basis. Iceland also contributes to the eFP. The eFP Battlegroups in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are led by Canada, Germany and the US respectively and all NATO Battlegroups have been integrated into their host nations’ brigades to ensure maximum cohesion between Allied forces.
NordenBladet — Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met in Madrid on Wednesday 26 January. The two prime ministers discussed strengthening their countries’ economic relations and cooperation on a number of EU issues. The security situation in Europe also came up in the discussion.“Finland and Spain think alike in many areas. We have good possibilities to cooperate both on EU affairs and bilaterally,” Prime Minister Marin said at the prime ministers’ joint press conference.With the exception of a downturn in 2020 due to the pandemic, Finland’s exports to Spain have been growing. The EU recovery package is opening up new opportunities for Finland to intensify commercial cooperation in Spain, particularly in the spheres of digitalisation and the green transition.Spain and Finland have similar views on developing the EU’s common foreign, security and defence policy, deepening the single market, promoting free trade and managing migration. Finland and Spain also place a great deal of importance on the EU’s shared values, such as the rule of law, human rights and gender equality. Both countries want the EU to have a stronger united voice in global issues.The prime ministers discussed the EU-Africa summit to be held in February and the two March European Councils, which will focus on the economy and security. Their discussion also addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and questions related to Europe’s energy supply. The prime ministers spoke for a long time about the security situation in Europe.“The current security situation in Europe is cause for concern. Ukraine has strong support from the EU. As we stated at the December European Council, any further military aggression by Russia against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe costs,” Prime Minister Marin said.
NordenBladet — On January 26 2022, the Energy programme committee of the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) decided to grant EUR 127 million for the implementation of a planned electricity transmission line between Northern Finland and Northern Sweden. The amount will be divided between Finland and Sweden. The financial support covers 50% of the project costs.“This is a great decision from the European Union. The project will add the needed extra capacity between Finland and Sweden, which will lower the price of electricity in Finland and improve operational reliability. It also promotes the achievement of climate targets as offshore and land-based wind power can be connected to the network”, says Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.This third 400 kV alternating current connection (Aurora Line) between Northern Finland and Northern Sweden is about to be completed in 2025. According to the plans, the new interconnector would be connected to the existing Finnish grid in Keminmaa. The project has already received EUR 4.3 million in support from the CEF for the planning phase.In this funding round, the CEF Energy selected only five projects for a total support of more than EUR 1 billion. One of them is the Baltic Synchronisation Project where the Baltic electricity grid would be desynchronised from the Russian network system. The CEF will support that project by EUR 177 million. In all, 12 projects applied for aid.On 7 July 2021, the European Parliament adopted a Regulation on the new Connecting Europe Facility (CEF 2), which provides financial support for the development of transport, energy and telecommunications networks. The CEF’s budget is EUR 33.7 billion, of which EUR 5.8 billion is reserved for energy projects. The financial support to energy networks will help to further integrate the internal energy market, reduce the EU’s energy dependency and improve the security of energy supply. The programme only funds cross-border projects, including those on renewable energy. The CEF’s first call for funding applications began in September 2021.
NordenBladet – Estonian identity verification startup Veriff has just raised a $100m Series C, making it the Baltic country’s sixth unicorn.
The round was co-led by Tiger Global and Alkeon, with participation from existing investors IVP and Accel. The round values the company at $1.5bn.
Despite having a population of just 1.3m, Estonia has given birth to five other unicorns — Skype, Wise (or TransferWise, as it used to be called), Pipedrive, Bolt and Playtech.
Veriff says that the company will use the fresh funding for R&D and hiring. The company currently has 360 employees from 46 nationalities.
CEO and founder Kaarel Kotkas said he would be spending more time in the US going forward: “Me being in the US lets me build up the team there, [while] keeping the same culture and being there personally for our bigger customers.
“The biggest challenge will be to keep on scaling at the same speed without losing the great culture of delivering fast, and not being a big enough company to allow ourselves to get slow.”
NordenBladet — The recount of the votes cast in the 2022 county elections is now complete. The results of the county elections confirmed by the county election boards are available in the Result Service on the Electionsfinland.fi website.Results of the 2022 county elections online
Today, six F-15E Strike Eagle fighters from the United States Air Force arrived at Ämari Air Base as part of the Astute Protector exercise. The main goal of the fighters in Estonia is to support the Baltic Air Policing Mission with the F-16 fighter jets of the Belgian Air Force, whose rotation began in December last year.
In addition, Danish F-16 fighter jets will arrive at the Lithuanian Šiauliai airport tomorrow and will perform the same tasks with the Polish F-16 fighter jets there. During the exercise, air-to-air and air-to-ground training procedures will be practiced with allies across the Baltics.
The F-15E fighters belong to the 48th Fighter Wing of the US Air Force and arrived to Estonia from their permanent home base in United Kingdom Lakenheath Air Force Base. The fighters will remain in Estonia until the end of next week.
“Baltic and enhanced Air Policing are enduring NATO missions that deliver constant vigilance of Allied airspace and contribute to the Alliance’s collective defence posture. The additional aircraft will work closely with the current detachments to increase our readiness, build crucial interoperability and underline the robust solidarity across the Alliance,” said Major General Jöerg Lebert, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Allied Air Command.
The United States conducts such exercises on a regular basis to assess its capabilities status and, if necessary, to fulfil its responsibilities as an ally. The exercises will also increase the level of cooperation of NATO Allies in responding to potential crises around the world.
NATO members allocate certain parts of their airspace to air force exercises and drills, including low-flying operations. The governments of the Baltic States have also allocated areas in their airspace for low-level flights. Low-level flights are performed in agreement with the Civil Aviation Administration and the Air Traffic Services.
According to the decision of the North Atlantic Council, the air forces of NATO member states have been guarding the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since 29 March 2004, when the Baltic States became members of NATO. As part of the 2012 Chicago Summit, the North Atlantic Council extended the Baltic Air Security Mission indefinitely.
NordenBladet — The revised rakennerahastot.fi website compiles information on the new programming period of the EU’s regional and structural policy. The website’s functions and structure have been improved and its visual image corresponds with that of the programming period. “The EU’s new programming period is about to begin, and the new website supports this work. The online service is intended for all who are involved in or interested in EU regional and structural policy. The website contains a great deal of information, including instructions on applying for aid as well as the aid recipients and results of projects,” says Johanna Osenius, Director for Regional Development at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.The website’s ‘Activities in regions’ section contains region-specific information on current issues related to the programming period, the regional priorities of the development measures to be funded and the application of funding. The Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021−2027, the EU’s regional and structural policy programme, aims to renew the regional economic structure, improve employment and skills, and increase inclusion. The funding comes from three complementary funds: the European Social Fund (ESF+), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Just Transition Fund (JTF).Initially, the website will be available in Finnish and Swedish. The English-language version will be published later in spring 2022.
NordenBladet — Children and young people can now vote on their peers’ ideas on how to strengthen the rights of the child. The call for ideas for children and young people was part of the implementation of Finland’s first National Child Strategy. The patron of the campaign is Mrs Jenni Haukio, spouse of the President of the Republic.“Hearing the voices of children and young people improves their inclusion and equality and helps them realise that their thoughts matter and have an impact. In our time, when all too many children feel excluded from decision-making that affects them, the call for ideas carried out as part the National Child Strategy is a valuable and necessary effort as it strengthens the feeling of being heard,” says Jenni Haukio, spouse of the President of the Republic and patron of the campaign.Children and young people were invited to submit their ideas for raising awareness of the rights of the child and for having these rights respected in every child’s life. They were admirably active in submitting ideas. All the ideas were discussed with the campaign’s panel, and the panel selected a longlist for voting. Children and young people can now vote on the longlist ideas, which are all feasible.“I want to thank all the children and young people who sent ideas. There were plenty of them, and they were all very good. Unfortunately, we are unable to put all the ideas into practice now. However, we have kept all the messages and ideas we received and we will work on them and maybe carry them out in some other way. The panel selected for the longlist the ideas that affect all children and young people as broadly and equally as possible and that can be put to practice in 2022,” says Johanna Laisaari, Secretary General for the National Child Strategy.Voting is open from 26 January to 9 February 2022. The online voting site can be found on the website of the National Child Strategy.A shortlist of two to six ideas will be selected based on the votes cast by children and young people and these ideas will be put into practice in 2022 as part of the implementation of the National Child Strategy.The results of the vote will be announced on February 2022 at 9.30–10.30 on the Government’s YouTube channel. The event will be hosted by Jussi-Pekka Rantanen, and Ansa Kynttilä will pay a visit via remote access. Children and young people of the Music Theatre Shed Helsinki will be performing at the event.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Marko Mihkelson participates in a security conference in Kiev, where the hybrid threats of today’s world and current security challenges for Ukraine will be discussed.
Mihkelson emphasised that, in the current security situation, it was very important to meet with Ukrainian colleagues in Kiev at this very moment in order to get the most objective information possible on the current situation and possible future developments. “Ukraine, as an independent democratic state, is facing the most serious threat in its history, and the international support of friends and partners is vital. Estonia supports Ukraine actively both diplomatically and by giving real defence assistance,” Mihkelson said.
During the working visit, Mihkelson will meet with Chair of the Committee on Matters of Foreign Policy and Inter-parliamentary Cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Oleksandr Merezhko, Chair of the Committee on Matters of Integration of Ukraine with the European Union Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, former President and Leader of the Opposition Petro Poroshenko, Director of Foreign Policy and European Integration Directorate General at the Administration of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva, former political prisoner Oleh Sentsov as well as with Hero of Ukraine and Member of Parliament General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi. Mihkelson will also give an interview to the Ukrainian TV channel 24.tv.
