FINLAND

Evaluation: Energy Authority performs well but should take a more active approach to energy transition

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — In the new decade, the Energy Authority should be a visionary national authority in the energy sector that carries out the implementation and monitoring tasks assigned to it objectively, but also actively offers its expertise to support the reform of energy and climate policy.This proposal is included in an evaluation of the agency, which was published on 22 December 2021. This is the first time the operations of the Energy Authority were assessed. Frisky & Anjoy Oy carried out the external assessment.According to the assessment, the Energy Authority has succeeded quite well in its operations. The agency has a great deal of competence and expertise, and its unbiased activities enjoy a high level of trust among companies that it supervises or licences.Based on the assessment, however, the agency appears passive and reactive to some extent. This is partly due to a lack of understanding of the agency’s competence in matters such as electricity transfer pricing. On the other hand, it also reflects the need to develop the agency’s communications and operating culture. The energy transition will require proactive guidance and wise regulation.“The Energy Authority plays an important and recognised role as an independent supervisory authority that promotes climate measures. Its solid expertise should be utilised both in policy preparation and in public debate. This comprehensive assessment provides an excellent starting point to develop the agency,” says Riku Huttunen, Director General of the Energy Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.The Energy Authority is one of the key players in the implementation of climate and energy policy. The agency’s task is to monitor and promote the energy market, reduction of emissions, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.The assessment covered the organisation and management of the Energy Authority’s operations, its relationship with society, and performance guidance and other cooperation between it and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.The report contains eight recommendations. According to them, the Energy Authority should be developed into a modern agency of energy experts based on its current strengths. The agency could increase dialogue, experiments and joint development with organisations, companies and other authorities in the sector. In addition, the agency’s communications should be strengthened to better correspond with activities of an agile expert agency. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment should strive to direct the agency’s activities in a manner that would enable its strategic renewal.  Carrying out the tasks simultaneously would be possible if, for example, the agency’s operative strategy and organisational model were developed towards a direction in which supervisory and promotion tasks were functionally separated to create a modern expert agency based on supplementary capabilities.The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Energy Authority will consider how the assessment could be used to develop the agency’s operations and performance guidance. The results of this work will be reflected in the next performance agreement between the Ministry and the agency, which will be concluded by autumn 2022.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

More health care professionals to vaccinating, vaccinations to be offered to people aged 5 years or over

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — From now on, biomedical laboratory scientists and practical nurses will be entitled to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations will be offered to people who are 5 years of age or older, and the order of vaccination priority will be abandoned. On Wednesday 22 December, the Government decided to amend sections 2 and 3 of the Government Decree on Voluntary COVID-19 Vaccinations.As a result, biomedical laboratory scientists (biomedical training at a university of applied sciences) and practical nurses with a vocational qualification in health and social services and practical nurses with the earlier equivalent vocational qualification will be entitled to administer vaccinations. The amendment will ensure efficient administration of coronavirus vaccines. A precondition for administering COVID-19 vaccines is that the professionals mentioned above have sufficient knowledge of pharmacotherapy and appropriate vaccination training. A new group comprising people that are 5–11 years of age will be added to the Decree. From now on, vaccinations will be offered to people aged 5 years or more. The order of vaccination priority will be removed from the Decree. The priority order was laid down in 2020, when only a limited number of vaccines were available at a given time. Appropriate vaccination of the most vulnerable groups will continue to be ensured in accordance with the guidelines of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.The amended decree will enter into force on 23 December 2021.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Chargeable services of ELY Centres, TE Offices and KEHA Centre in 2022

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — On 22 December 2021, the Government issued a Decree on chargeable services by the ELY Centres, TE Offices and KEHA Centre for 2022. The Decree lays down which services are chargeable, which services will be charged on the basis of the cost price or a lower price, and which services will be priced on a commercial basis.The content of the Decree largely corresponds to the Decree on chargeable services for 2021.Two new charges for ELY CentresA new chargeable service was added to the environmental and natural resource tasks of the ELY Centres concerning the approval of the waste management plan of a port.Re-inspection of supervision of animal registration and identification will be another new chargeable service of ELY Centres.ELY Centre charges removed and other changesDecisions related to prohibitions or restrictions referred to in section 101 of the Water Traffic Act (782/2019) have been transferred from the ELY Centres to Traficom following the reform of the Water Traffic Act that entered into force on 1 June 2020. Consequently, fees concerning the Water Traffic Act have been removed from the Decree.A fee for extending a prohibition on construction or injunction imposed on the preparation or amendment of a master plan was removed from the services of the environmental and natural resource tasks of the ELY Centres.In addition, minor changes were made to the road maintenance and other transport services of the ELY Centres.This Decree will be valid from 1 January to 31 December 2022.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Amendments to Chemicals Safety Act, Mining Act and Nuclear Energy Act

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Act on the Safe Handling and Storage of Dangerous Chemicals and Explosives, the Mining Act and the Nuclear Energy Act will be amended as of 31 December 2021. The legislative amendments will complement the implementation of EU legislation in national legislation.On 22 December 2021, the President of the Republic approved legislative amendments to the Act on the Safe Handling and Storage of Dangerous Chemicals and Explosives, the Mining Act and the Nuclear Energy Act. The Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) grants permits for the industrial handling of dangerous chemicals and the manufacturing and storage of explosives. The Act already lays down the right of the parties to request an administrative review regarding the permits granted by Tukes. As per the amendment, regional associations and foundations defined in the Act will also obtain this right.  Other amendments have also been made to the Chemicals Safety Act, for example to the provisions on notifications, to supplement national legislation as a result of an official notice issued by the Commission. The Act also includes updated references to other acts.Obligations of permit authorities specified in projects concerning international consultationA reference to the international consultation procedure laid down in the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure, which applies to cross-border environmental impact assessment projects, will be added to the Chemicals Safety Act, the Nuclear Energy Act and the Mining Act.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Tour operators not to be charged supervisory and insolvency protection fees for 2021

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Government proposes that tour operators not be charged supervisory and insolvency protection fees for 2021. These fees were waived in 2020 too.On 22 December 2021, the Government submitted to Parliament a proposal for a temporary amendment to the Act on the Supervisory and Insolvency Protection Fee Provided by Providers of Travel Service Combinations. In practice, the Government’s proposal means that tour operators will not be charged a supervision and insolvency fee for this year. Even though there has been a slight recovery in the tourism sector in 2021 compared with the previous year, the pandemic has continued to hamper the sector’s operations to a significant degree this year, according to the Government. By not charging the fee, the Government wants to alleviate the situation of tour operators. Waiving the fee will apply to about 570 companies, which are obliged to lodge a collateral with the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority to protect the advance payments made by travellers and the costs of repatriation.The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority is responsible for imposing and collecting the fee. The Act is set to enter into force as soon as possible and it will remain in force until 31 December 2022.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

“I am a living example of forgiveness”

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — A tragic accident in Abdirizak Warsame Ahmed’s childhood caused him to lose both of his hands. Instead of being discouraged, he turned the accident into a resource. The boy with no hands grew up to be a man who now lives in Mogadishu and travels around Somalia spreading the message of hope and peace. Ahmed is a participant in the Foreign Ministry’s pro-peace communication project.Abdirizak Warsame Ahmed is now known as an ambassador of forgiveness. Photo: Wali Hashi Abdirizak Warsame Ahmed is now known as an ambassador of forgiveness. Photo: Wali HashiWhen he was a little boy, Abdirizak Warsame Ahmed herded sheep. One day the sheep ran away. As a punishment, Ahmed’s aunt tied his hands with a rope. She left and forgot all about him, and only 17 hours later someone untied him and Ahmed was rushed to the hospital. The rope around 8-year-old Ahmed’s hands was so tight that his hands had become paralysed and infected. The following morning, his hands had to be amputated.That was the beginning of a new life for Ahmed. For a long time it seemed that a boy with no hands did not have much of a future in Somalia. But things took a different turn when Ahmed decided to forgive his aunt. This was the beginning of a story that Ahmed now wants to share with young people in Somalia.“It is important to remember that we all make mistakes. That is why we have to learn to apologise and forgive. I want to tell young people that I was able to overcome all challenges and that I have forgiven the person who caused me to lose my hands.”With support from the Communications Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, a documentary on Ahmed was filmed last year and was broadcast on Somali TV channels. Ahmed’s compelling story has made him famous in Somalia.  He has been asked to speak at various events and interviews, especially in Mogadishu.This year, Ahmed travelled to Kismanyo, a city in the southern part of Somalia, where he spent three days visiting schools as part of the Foreign Ministry’s project. He talked about reconciliation and forgiveness to hundreds of young people. The school visits were also filmed and turned into a documentary.Media plays a major role in SomaliaThe Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ project has provided content for the Day of Forgiveness, which is celebrated in Somalia and Somali communities around the world on 28 June. The person behind the idea for the Day of Forgiveness and the Foreign Ministry’s campaign, and in charge of all the practical arrangements involved, is a Finnish[VL(1]  journalist and media professional Wali Hashi.“One day the project will come to an end, but thanks to Ahmed and other young peace ambassadors like him, work for peace and forgiveness will continue,” Hashi says.According to Hashi, the most effective way to spread the message of forgiveness is through media, especially social media.“Somalia is a country with a strong oral tradition; this means sharing a story, drama, music and poetry through the media is essential for spreading and disseminating culture, knowledge, values and attitudes. Social media allows different ideologies to spread like wildfire. Different media feed an enormous amount of information to young Somalis, largely because the country’s education system has not yet recovered from the long civil war,” Hashi explains.Future plans for the project include youth discussion programmes, workshops and music production. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Hashi plan to continue their communications campaign in Somalia until 2023.Links Abdirizak Warsame AhmedVideo: Abdirizak Ahmed shares his story of forgivenessVideo: Disabled Hero of PeaceNews: ”The clan system in Somalia is holding back peace development” 

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

EU Sports Ministers call for respect for human rights in international sports organisations

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Sports Ministers of the European Union Iceland and Norway have signed a statement calling for transparency, democracy and respect for human rights in the work of international sport federations.The statement signed by the ministers of 21 EU Member States and Iceland and Norway states that although many sports organisations operate in accordance with these principles, there is a clear need for international sport federations to reform their decision-making processes.The ministers consider it important that respect for all human rights, including the rights of migrant workers and children, as well as freedom of expression and assembly, are safeguarded in all major sports events.The ministers will continue their discussions and cooperation in international forums in collaboration with national and international sports organisations.The statement reinforces the message of the letter addressed to Commissioner Gabriel. The letter, initiated by Finland, was signed by all EU Member States.StatementPress release 27 January 2021: Human rights must be ensured at all international sporting events  

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Funding for recovery of cultural activities and creative industries launched

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland is investing in revitalising culture and the creative industries and in reshaping them in a sustainable way. The Ministry of Education and Culture has granted EUR 4 million in discretionary government grants to those operating in the cultural and creative sectors to create innovative services and to devise novel production and operating procedures. The grant application was the first batch of the Ministry’s overall EUR 30 million financial support for reshaping the cultural and creative sectors.The financial support provides means for the cultural and creative sectors to reform and digitalise their services and production and operating procedures. Under Finland’s Sustainable Growth Programme, structural support aims to contribute to creating more jobs in the creative industries and to raising the GDP ratio of the creative industries significantly higher than the current 3.5% of GDP by 2026.Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen observes that structural support will be used to help the creative industries, which have been hard hit by the pandemic, to shape their future and create innovations.“Creative industries provide jobs and bring vitality to the regions and wellbeing for people around Finland. We can further strengthen this by assisting cultural activities and the creative industries to grow. My goal is that more and more people in Finland will find work and opportunities for entrepreneurship in the cultural sector,” says Minister Kurvinen.Altogether 184 applications were submitted by the closing date. Financial support was granted to 20 projects that represent the audiovisual and film industry, architecture, performing arts (music, theatre, dance, circus), design, museums and cultural heritage as well as visual arts. The projects also widely encourage developing services in the cultural industries, promoting cultural exports, and managing and harnessing copyright data.“The new initiatives will bring a more international approach to the cultural sector and open up new opportunities for accelerating digitalisation. The projects that are being supported involve multidisciplinary cooperation and include operating models that have the potential to change the way we operate and create new opportunities for the cultural sector over the long term,” Kurvinen says.“The newly distributed funds are only the first of a batch of resources that aims to can speed up growth in the creative industries. I expect to be able to grant funding to an even larger group of projects next spring,” Kurvinen adds.The next call for applications for structural support will be organised in spring 2022, provided that Parliament decides to allocate the necessary appropriations for this purpose in the 2022 Budget. Sustainable Growth Programme for FinlandFinland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) is part of the Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland. The Sustainable Growth Programme boosts competitiveness, investment, research, development and innovation, as well as measures to raise skill levels. It is funded from the one-off EU Recovery and Resilience Facility.The programme is divided into four pillars. The structural support for renewing the cultural and creative sectors belongs in pillar three called: Raising the employment rate and skill levels to accelerate sustainable growth. The funding in pillar three totals EUR 636 million, of which EUR 40 million is allocated to revitalising cultural activities and the creative industries, divided into structural support from the Ministry of Education and Culture (EUR 30 million) and innovation funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment/Business Finland (EUR 10 million).In the first stage, the Ministry of Education and Culture had EUR 4 million at its disposal for structural support within the scope of the implementation of Recovery and Resilience Plan for Finland. The main emphasis in the applications for structural support for the cultural and creative sectors will be in 2022 and 2023. Around EUR 14 million will be made available in 2022, around EUR 9 million in 2023 and around EUR 3 million in 2024.More information on structural support and grants awarded (in Finnish)

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Information on candidates for county elections to be published on 23 December

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The county election boards will confirm the master lists of candidates for the January 2022 county elections on Thursday 23 December 2021. Information about the candidates will be published on the Electionsfinland.fi website of the Ministry of Justice during the same evening.There are 21 wellbeing services counties, each of them with its own candidates. The lists of candidates contain the name, candidate number, profession and municipality of residence of each candidate.In the county elections, voters may only vote for a candidate standing for election in their wellbeing services county. The wellbeing services county in which a voter is entitled to vote is determined based on their municipality of residence. Voters can check which wellbeing services county their municipality belongs to on the Electionsfinland.fi website (in Finnish).Voters can learn more about the candidates in their wellbeing services county on the internet, through campaign advertising of political parties and candidates, and by using a vote compass.The elections to be held on Sunday 23 January 2022 are the first county elections in Finland. In the elections, representatives for the county councils will be elected. The county councils will be responsible for organising healthcare, social welfare and rescue services in the wellbeing services counties from the beginning of 2023.The boundaries of the wellbeing services counties mainly correspond to the boundaries of the current regions with the exception of the region of Uusimaa, which includes four wellbeing services counties.The residents of Helsinki will not vote in the county elections, because the City of Helsinki continues to be responsible for social, health and rescue services in Helsinki. Another exception is Åland, which is not affected by the health, social and rescue services reform.Information about the candidates for the 2022 county elections will be available in the Information and Result Service as of 23 December.Information about county elections and voting: www.electionsfinland.fi
Instructions for voters during COVID-19
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: Coronavirus COVID-19 – Latest Updates
Electionsfinland.fi on Twitter
Electionsfinland.fi on Facebook
Election videos on YouTube
Elections helpline: 0800 9 4770 (in Finnish) and 0800 9 4771 (in Swedish).
WhatsApp service for election-related questions: 050 438 8730

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

COVID-19 infections continue to increase – especially burden on intensive care has increased throughout the country

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Around 13,400 new COVID-19 cases were reported between 13 and 19 December, while in the previous week the number of new cases in Finland was around 10,600. On 20 December, the total number of confirmed cases of the Omikron variant was 83. The burden on hospital care and, in particular, intensive care is increasing.In the last 14 days (between 4 and 17 December), the incidence of new cases was 408 per 100,000 inhabitants. In the previous two weeks (between 20 November and 3 December), the incidence of new cases was 307 per 100,000 inhabitants.At the end of last week, the total number of patients in specialised healthcare was 184, of whom 126 were in inpatient care and 58 in intensive care. On 20 December, 177 patients were in specialised healthcare and 64 in intensive care. The burden on hospital care is now spread more evenly across the country than before. On 20 December 2021, the total number of COVID-19-related deaths reported to the communicable diseases register was 1,493 and 60 per cent of the reported deaths were among people over 80 years of age. On 19 December, 83.3 per cent of those aged 12 and over had received at least two vaccine doses in Finland. At the same time, the number of those having received the third dose is nearly 770,000.In recent weeks, testing for coronavirus has been very active. A total of 150,000–154,000 tests per week were carried out between 6 and 19 December. The number of positive test results has increased. In the last 14 days, 8.1 per cent of all samples taken were positive, whereas in the previous 14 days the share was 6.1 per cent. The following 17 areas meet the epidemiological characteristics for areas in the community transmission phase: The Hospital Districts of South Karelia, South Ostrobothnia, South Savo, North Savo, Helsinki and Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme, Central Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Kymenlaakso, Lapland, Länsi-Pohja, Pirkanmaa, North Ostrobothnia, Päijät-Häme, Satakunta, Vaasa and Southwest Finland.
The epidemiological situation is being monitored during Christmas and the New Year. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare will publish the key monitoring information on the COVID-19 epidemic on a new reporting website. The new website will replace the current coronavirus map entirely as of 1 January 2022.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

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