NordenBladet — Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will meet in Helsinki on Monday 4 October.At their meeting, the prime ministers will discuss bilateral relations between Finland and Estonia, international affairs and topical EU issues.Prime Minister Marin and Prime Minister Kallas will meet at the Estonian Embassy. After the discussions, the prime ministers will attend an event celebrating the reopening of the embassy after renovations.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — On Monday 4 October 2021, Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka will meet the French Minister Delegate for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari and Minister of State for Digital Transition Cédric O in Paris.He will also have a working lunch with Ambassador Teemu Tanner and Young Tae Kim, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD.The topics to be discussed with Minister Djebbari include the transport initiatives in the Fit for 55 package, reduction of emissions from transport and the objectives of the French Presidency of the EU Council that will start in January 2022.The agenda for the meeting between Minister Harakka and Minister Cédric O includes the Commission proposal for the Data Governance Act and the upcoming proposal for the Data Act, the legislative framework concerning a European identity and cyber security.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — The Government has amended the decree restricting the activities of food and beverage service businesses due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Based on the current epidemiological situation, restrictions for the acceleration and community transmission phases of the epidemic will be significantly eased and lifted. In addition, in the region of Uusimaa, the restrictions for the community transmission phase will continue to apply only in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.The amendment to the decree will enter into force on 1 October 2021.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in the regions of Southwest Finland, South Karelia, Ostrobothnia and Satakunta, and in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, which are all at the community transmission phase of the epidemic, from 1 OctoberFood and beverage service businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 00.00 and be open between 5.00 and 1.00.Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may have only half the normal number of customer seats in use in their indoor and outdoor premises. Other food and beverage service businesses are restricted to 75 per cent of their normal number of customer seats in indoor premises.All customers must have their own seats at a table or similar in indoor premises. The earlier ban on karaoke and dancing and the obligation to provide customers their own seats in outdoor premises will be lifted.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses elsewhere in the country, i.e. in areas where the epidemic is at the acceleration or baseline phase, from 1 OctoberNo separate restrictions on the number of customers or on licensing and opening hours.The obligation to observe the general hygiene guidelines and to keep a safe distance applies in all regions.Exceptions to restrictions remain unchangedThe restrictions laid down in the decree do not apply to the activities of staff restaurants or to takeaway sales of food to customers. The restrictions on opening hours do not apply to food and beverage service businesses on vessels and aircraft that operate between Finland and other countries or abroad or to food and beverage service businesses that operate at distribution stations for liquid fuels.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä will travel to Expo 2020 Dubai with a business delegation on 4–7 October 2021. This is the first Team Finland export promotion visit by a Finnish minister since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.Lintilä’s visit aims to strengthen the relations between Finland and the United Arab Emirates and to promote Finnish business in the Persian Gulf countries.“The world is opening up after the pandemic and the world fair in Dubai offers an excellent opportunity to boost Finnish exports in growing and potential markets,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä. Finland and the United Arab Emirates already enjoy good relations, especially in trade. There are currently some 70 Finnish companies operating in the United Arab Emirates and in 2020 the country was Finland’s second largest export destination in the Persian Gulf region. Before the coronavirus outbreak, the country was also a popular travel destination for Finns. “The United Arab Emirates has ambitious goals for the sustainable management and use of natural resources. Finnish companies have expertise in achieving these goals, for example in renewable energy, bioeconomy and circular economy,” Lintilä says. During the visit, the Minister will meet high-level decision-makers and authorities together with companies. 100 Finnish companies on display in Finland’s pavilionThe Lumi Pavilion highlights Finland’s expertise in clean technology, circular economy, sustainable energy, digitalisation, education and travel. About a hundred Finnish companies will participate in the exhibition. The main partners are Kone, Wärtsilä, Fiskars Group, Nokia, Konecranes, Metso Outotec, Fortum, Isku, Valmet, Finnair, Haaga-Helia, iLOQ, Granlund, Black Donuts, Collaprime, Genelec, Smart Nuclear Energy Solutions, Education Finland and Neles.The world fair, which was postponed by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, will open on 1 October 2021. This is the first time in the fair’s 168-year history that it had to be postponed. The Expo 2020 Dubai is the first world exhibition organised by an Arab country. More than 190 countries will participate in the Expo, which will be open until the end of March 2022.The companies participating in the Team Finland business delegation are BMH Technology, GTK, Griffin Refineries, Korkia, L7 Drive, Nokia, Valmet, Valoe and Wärtsilä.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet —
Today the Riigikogu discussed the impact of the rise in the CO2 price on the state budget and economy as a matter of significant national importance, initiated by the State Budget Control Select Committee.
Chairman of the State Budget Control Select Committee Urmas Reinsalu, Minister for Economy and Infrastructure Taavi Aas and Member of the Management Board of Baltic Energy Partners Marko Allikson made reports.
In his report, Reinsalu noted that the current forecasts on the formation of the electricity price had proved inaccurate and they were jeopardising all Estonian residential customers and businesses and consequently the competitiveness of our whole economy and the livelihoods of people.
Reinsalu pointed out that businesses and consumers were paying a higher electricity price in connection with a rise in the CO2 trading price and, in reality, the money was all being accrued to the state budget. “When the burden increases for customers, this does not mean at all that the money accrued to the state budget will actually return to the consumers,” Reinsalu said. He added that the rise in the electricity price was projected to cost at least 250 million euro to Estonian consumers this year.
In Reinsalu’s words, the state needs a clear and dispassionate analysis of the impact of both emissions trading and climate policy, and of the cost of these for Estonian consumers. “In the conditions of the drastically increased energy deficit we need a clear and dispassionate analysis of what our national electricity supply security will be like,” Reinsalu said. He recalled that, at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, when countries had closed their borders, the countries had each stood for their own residents. “There is no doubt at all about the stock exchange conditions either. If a soaring deficit arises, countries will begin to make dispassionate decisions, choosing to ensure supply security for their own population, for the consumers in their country.”
Reinsalu also pointed out that, besides the supply security of electricity generation, a clear position was needed on what Europe’s current emissions trading dynamics meant in terms of electricity consumers.
Reinsalu pointed out the options for the Government to operate in the regulative market. He mentioned the renewable energy charge paid by consumers. “We have the opportunity to fully cancel the renewable energy charge and to compensate it to renewable energy producers with a corresponding state budget appropriation, like many European countries are doing,” Reinsalu suggested.
He noted secondly that it was necessary to review the ensuring of energy supply security and the decision to close down oil shale energy in Estonia. “We must also urgently increase the payments from KredEx, and simplify the support mechanisms to increase the energy efficiency of the housing stock, including private houses, and to promote local energy generation,” Reinsalu said.
In Reinsalu’s opinion, the electricity market is a politically distorted market but, in his words, the state must use mechanisms to prevent the price from skyrocketing for the consumer. In his words, the money the state accrues from the value added tax and the CO2 units must be used to develop an automated stabiliser as several European countries have started to do without delay.
Minister Aas explained the reasons for the rise in the electricity price. He noted that the price was formed by the fossil fuel power stations across Europe. Their price depends on the CO2 quota and the world market price of fuel.
The minister explained that this summer had been exceptionally hot not only in Estonia but in Scandinavia as well. The low rainfall meant that the amount of the water collected behind the dam of the hydroelectric power station in Norway was smaller than usual. Therefore, in the minister’s words, electricity power stations using fossil fuels need to be kept in operation. At the same time, the economy is undergoing a rapid recovery not only here in Europe but also in Asia and North America. The recovery has created an exceptionally high energy demand, and this in turn has given a push to the world market prices of fossil energy carriers.
Aas said that the Government did not have a lever to increase rainfall in Norway or to generate wind that would increase the production in European wind farms. Nor is it in the Government’s power to meaningfully influence the price of fossil fuels that is formed in the global market. “In the formation of the price of electricity, the CO2 emissions trading system and the measures to bring renewable energy to the market sooner are the only components dependent on the European Union energy and climate policy,” Aas said. He added that the Government had taken steps in both directions, but neither of them was a quick solution or a magic wand. However, they will help avoid such problems in the future.
Aas emphasised that the price pressure was caused by the high price of fuel, in particular the price of natural gas. “Once the price of natural gas begins to fall or the amount of rainfall normalises to what it has been on the average over the last ten years, the market price for electricity will fall as well,” Aas said. In his words, renewable energy is the long-term solution to avoid a price-shock, and this transition is being attended to on a daily basis.
Aas recalled that an amendment to the Electricity Market Act, Bill 156 SE, was in the legislative process of the Riigikogu that would create wider opportunities to replace the expensive fossil fuels with CO2-free waste wood in Narva power stations. Likewise, at the beginning of next year, the spatial plan for the Estonian maritime areas will enter its final stage and it will be possible to begin to launch the development of wind farms in the sea.
In Aas’s words, the previous Estonian Government has been proven to have made the right decision to maintain and to have available at any time at least 1000 MW of managed production capacity in Estonia. He admitted that there were periods when that capacity was not needed, but the current year was showing clearly that there were periods when we could not manage with just renewable power plants dependent on the weather.
In his report, entrepreneur Allikson spoke of the market price of electricity. Allikson explained how the electricity markets functioned. He pointed out that the price on the stock exchange was determined by the marginal producer, that is, the last electric power plant that made it to the market, on the basis of its variable costs. About 20 per cent of the electricity production in Europe is based on natural gas. “When the prices rise to around 100–160 euro in the spot market, then this is the level with which it is possible to produce electricity in a gas power station today,” Allikson said. In his words, this contains the CO2 cost, this contains the cost of fuel, and this contains the operating costs. If the price skyrockets, gas plants are the ones that determine the price.
He also pointed out that, in the Baltic states, there were particular additional reasons that had influenced the upward movement of the price. First he mentioned that supplies on the Russian-Belarusian borders would be reduced from November 2021 because Lithuania had not wished to buy nuclear energy from Astravyets. Second, our price is also affected by the fact that our connections with Latvia are larger than before. “In fact, Latvia and Lithuania have always been in a slightly higher price region and therefore the prices are converging. We are no longer in the same price range as Finland; our prices are slightly higher,” Allikson said. He admitted that Finland had been doing the right things looking into the future. “Next year, they will be launching a new nuclear power station, and significant new wind capacities will be added. So Finland will probably remain a region with a lower price also in the future.”
In his report, Allikson also touched on the longer-term projection. “Everything that rises in terms of price will probably fall eventually,” he said. He explained that, in the long-term perspective, it was presumed that more power links would be opened in the Nordic countries, prices would converge between different regions and, in the long term, the price level would be expected to remain low.
Allison noted that Estonia was not producing enough electricity – consumption was exceeding 1000 MW, while production remained at around above 900 MW. “This means that we have a shortage of electricity and we always need to buy electricity,” he stated. “If the electricity we buy has a higher price, then our price is higher, regardless of the price at which Narva Power Plants wish to sell.”
In Allikson’s words, it is impossible to separate the CO2 trading system and the electricity market. “It cannot be said that we kind of are in the CO2 market and remain outside the electricity market, or vice versa,” he pointed out the inevitability. He also thinks that it is not reasonable to change the current subsidies to renewable energy. “Because while Estonia needs renewable energy investments, this will not make Estonia more attractive to investors, but rather less attractive. After all, more investments are needed and not less investments,” he explained.
Allikson pointed out what the Riigikogu could do to influence the price of electricity. In his words, politicians can influence the administrative component of the price of electricity. “You can use the higher CO2 auction revenues to compensate either the components of the electricity bill or a price increase, and the excise duty and value added tax can always be lowered,” he said.
In other aspects, the price of electricity is affected by weather. In Allikson’s words, a reduction in gas consumption might help reduce gas prices. In a longer-term perspective, however, in his words, new connections such as Estlink 3 will be needed. He also mentioned the speeding up of the renewable energy development, the development of storage technologies, energy efficiency, the flexibility of consumption, and the ascertaining of the possibilities of nuclear energy and hydrogen.
During the debate, Helir-Valdor Seeder (Isamaa), Dmitri Dmitrijev (Centre Party), Jevgeni Ossinovski (Social Democratic Party), Kristen Michal (Reform Party) and Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor on behalf of their factions. Jürgen Ligi (Reform Party), Martin Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Mart Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party and Tarmo Kruusimäe (Isamaa) also took the floor.
Source: Parliament of Estonia
NordenBladet — The Government proposes an experiment to assess what impact recruitment subsidy would have on a company hiring its first employee. The experiment will examine whether financial support for payroll costs would lower the threshold for recruitment. The objective is to support business growth and promote employment. The pilot is scheduled to start on 1 March 2022 and last until the end of 2023.The majority of businesses in Finland are sole entrepreneurs. According to Statistics Finland, there were about 190,000 sole entrepreneurs in Finland in 2020, which corresponds to 69% of all entrepreneurs.“There are many sole entrepreneurs in Finland who have the potential to expand their business and become employers at the same time. The experiment will give us reliable information on whether financial support for payroll costs would encourage sole entrepreneurs to hire their first employee. The aim is to create a cycle of positive growth – work for a jobseeker and business growth for entrepreneurs, which in turn would lead to hiring of new employees,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.Companies to be selected by random samplingThe experiment is aimed at sole entrepreneurs and other companies where all employees are entrepreneurs. The experiment would target companies that have not had any externally recruited workforce during the 12 months preceding the experiment, and whose turnover in 2021 is at least EUR 15,000 but not more than EUR one million. A test group and a control group would be selected from the target companies by random sampling. The experiment would be carried out in stages so that 3,500 companies would be selected to the test group in the first stage. If fewer than 900 of these companies took up the subsidy, an additional test and control group would be selected in the second phase of the experiment.The maximum amount of recruitment subsidy for a single company would total EUR 10,000. The subsidy would cover up to 50% of the employees’ salaries for a maximum period of 12 months starting from the first employee’s employment relationship but no earlier than the date the subsidy was applied for.Amendments to other acts to safeguard right of access to informationTo ensure that the TE Office of Southeast Finland and the Development and Administration Centre of the ELY Centres and TE Offices (KEHA Centre) have the necessary information to carry out the experiment, the Government also proposes temporary amendments to the Act on Public Business and Employment Service, the Act on the Income Information System and the Criminal Records Act.The Government proposal is included in the 2022 budget proposal and will be discussed in that context. A total of EUR 13 million is available for implementing the experiment.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — On 30 September 2021, the Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy agreed on guidelines for the regional allocation of funding under the EU regional and structural policy programme Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021–2027. During the next programming period, funding will be distributed slightly more evenly between the different regions.Funding for the 2021–2027 programming period comes from three different funds: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF+) and the Just Transition Fund (JTF). The objective of the EU’s regional and structural policy is to even out disparities in regional development in Europe and to boost the growth and competitiveness of the Union’s economy.Regional allocation ensures current level of funding for Eastern and Northern FinlandDetermining the regional allocation of funds for the whole programming period helps to safeguard the regions’ long-term efforts to develop their vitality and competitiveness. The objectives of the Innovation and Skills in Finland programme are related to the development of SMEs, RDI activities, employment, skills and equal opportunities. The regional allocation has been drawn up in such a way that no region will lose funding compared to the current programming period when taking into account total EU and central government funding. The allocation solution also utilises the remaining funding from the current programming period (approximately EUR 30 million). This funding will be allocated to Eastern and Northern Finland.The regional allocation of EU regional and structural policy funding falls under the scope of Finland’s national decision-making power. Special funding for sparsely populated areas is being allocated to Eastern and Northern Finland.The Government will adopt the Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021–2027 programme in October, after which it will be submitted to the European Commission for approval. The programme will be launched in November 2021.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — The final report on the implementation of the action plan for incident prevention for rescue services has now been published. According to the report, closer cooperation between different actors is needed and tools must be developed for qualitative evaluation.A joint action plan for incident prevention for rescue services drawn up in 2019 specifies the national impact targets for the operations. The process was led by the Ministry of the Interior. Through these targets, rescue services will be able to deal with the key incidents with respect to the security and safety of the society and people.Cooperation, leadership culture and impact assessment in key positionIn the workshops, the rescue service personnel considered cooperation as the most important impact target to be developed further. One of the conclusions of the report was that, besides the work done with other actors, cooperation within the organisations also plays a key role in terms of reaching the impact targets. Closer cooperation between actors involved in incident prevention and those who work on rescue operations is needed and all potential synergies must be harnessed.Personnel’s attitudes provide a good platform for developmentRescue services provide a good setting for developing all the above-mentioned aspects of the operations. The personnel of rescue service organisations have an open attitude and a lot of forward-looking ideas that should be used in developing incident prevention services and putting the impact targets into practice.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — The Government proposes a new practice of continuous dialogue to develop the long-term relationship between the employer and employees at work. Another objective of the revised Act on Co-operation within Undertakings is to improve the employees’ ability to exert influence and to access information.“The Co-operation Act is often considered just an act on terminating employment even though, as its name suggests, it relates to cooperation at work. That is why, it is time to carry out a reform that improves dialogue and trust between the employer and employees,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.The Government submitted its proposal on a new Act on Co-operation within Undertakings to Parliament on 30 September 2021. The Act is due to enter into force on 1 January 2022.The new Act on Co-operation within Undertakings would consist of three entities:Continuous dialogue between employer and employeesNegotiations in changing circumstances (change negotiations)Employee representative in company administration (administrative representative)The Act would apply to companies and organisations employing at least 20 persons. The provisions on administrative representatives would apply to companies that employ at least 150 people in Finland. The Act would not apply to central or local government agencies or public bodies.Continuous dialogue helps develop the company and work communityAs a result of the reform, the employer and employees (or their representatives) should engage in a regular dialogue. The dialogue could address, for example: financial situation of the company or organisationworkplace rules and practicespersonnel structure and competence needswellbeing at work. The ways to carry out the dialogue in practice would be agreed at workplaces. As a rule, the dialogue should take place on a quarterly basis. In small companies with 20–29 employees, the dialogue should be held twice a year. If the company has not elected an employee representative, one dialogue per year would be sufficient.A plan for developing the work community would be formulated as part of the dialogue.Stronger role for employee representatives in change negotiationsBefore the employer makes a decision on matters that have a significant effect on the employees, such as reductions in workforce, the employer must consult the employees or employee representatives. In the revised Act, this process would be called change negotiations. The procedures of change negotiations would remain largely the same as in the current Act. However, the employee representative would have more rights than before to make proposals and propose alternative solutions. In addition, the Act would specify the time when negotiations must start.Employee representation in administration to be specifiedThe representation of employees in the company administration promotes the flow of information and allows the personnel’s expertise to contribute to the decision-making. In the new Act, the employee representative in the administration of a company will be called an administrative representative. The provisions on administrative representation would largely correspond with the current Act, but they would be transferred from the Act on Personnel Representation to the Act on Co-operation within Undertakings. Employees should be represented in the body of the company or organisation, which deals with important business matters, finances and personnel issues.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
NordenBladet — The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment appointed a new cooperation group to support the Ministry in coordinating the development and preparedness measures on security of supply at the Government level. The term of group is from Oktober 1 2021 to 30 September 2024.Director-General Antti Neimala and Head of Division Eeva Vahtera from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment were appointed chair and deputy chair of the cooperation group, respectively. Several evaluations on the security of supply operations have been carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The appointment of the cooperation group partly responds to the recommendations and proposals presented in these assessments.A group evaluating the operation of the National Emergency Supply Agency in spring 2021 recommended that cooperation between the different Government-level operators be developed. At that time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment stated that implementing the recommendation would further enhance the Government’s joint preparedness, development of security of supply and coordination of preparedness measures. According to the Act on the Protection of National Emergency Supply, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the overall development of security of supply and the coordination of preparedness measures. The ministries develop security of supply in their administrative branches. The new cross-administrative cooperation group on security of supply will support this coordination task.The tasks of the cooperation group include promoting the flow of information at the government level and coordinating issues in matters related to security of supply, participating in the mid-term review and update of the Government’s decision on the objectives of security of supply, and evaluating the need to develop legislation on security of supply in the short and long term. In addition to Neimala and Vahtera, the other members of the group are Antti Ellonen, Head of Preparedness (Ministry of Transport and Communications); Riitta Ukkonen, Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry); Niina Puolusmäki, Chief Specialist (Ministry of Justice); Juho-Antti Jantunen, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Education and Culture); Tarja Jaakkola, Head of Unit (Ministry of Defence); Merja Rapeli, Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health); Timo Saastamoinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of Finance); Jyrki Pohjolainen, Senior Advisor (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment); Sampo Kemppainen, Chief Specialist (Prime Minister’s Office); Leena Gardemeister, Deputy Director General (Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and Kirsi Martinkauppi, Senior Ministerial Adviser (Ministry of the Environment). Each member has a deputy from their own organisation.The expert members of the group are Rain Mutka, Administrative Director at National Emergency Supply Agency; Miikka Salonen, Head of Situation Awareness at National Cyber Security Centre; Pietari Pentinsaari, Director at Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom; and Petri Toivonen, Secretary General of the Security Committee.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi
